Venezuela confirmed 15 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the number of those infected by the outbreak to 455, reported President Nicolás Maduro from the Military Circle in Caracas. All the cases are imported, that is, they are people who returned from other countries with the disease. The Executive Vice President of the Republic, Delcy Rodríguez, noted that of the new cases, 6 come from Ecuador, 6 from Brazil, 2 from Colombia and 1 from Chile.
In this sense, the Venezuelan President explained that to date 37,820 have entered through the border checkpoints, undergoing Covid-19 screening test when entering the country, doing their respective quarantine, tested with tests both upon departure from the quarantine facility and upon arrival in the states of residence, where they also have to be quarantined.
He also explained that in the state of La Guaira, approximately 300 compatriots have completed quarantine, registering 9 cases; while 4,582 Venezuelans have entered the Zulia state so far, registering 6 cases; 21,506 citizens have entered the Táchira and 43 positive cases have been detected, 4 cases have been registered in Apure and 109 have entered the Amazon, of which 9 positive cases have been detected.
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Detail of new cases of contagion registered in the last 24 hours in Venezuela:
- A 42-year-old male, a resident of Falcón state, entered by “Plan Vuelta a la Patria” humanitarian flight on May 9 from Ecuador and was serving quarantine in Los Caracas. He is currently admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira, receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- Female, 3 years old, a resident of the Falcón state, entered the country through the humanitarian flight on May 9 from Ecuador, serving her respective quarantine in Los Caracas. Granddaughter of the previous case. Currently admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira and receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- A 26-year-old male, a resident of the state of Falcón, entered the country through a humanitarian flight on May 9 from Ecuador, he completed quarantine in Los Caracas. Currently admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- A 24-year-old male, a resident of the Falcón state, entered the country through the humanitarian flight of May 9 from Ecuador, serving quarantine in Los Caracas. He is admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 22-year-old female, a resident of the Falcón state, who entered the country through the humanitarian flight of May 9 from Ecuador and completed quarantine in Los Caracas. She is admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 36-year-old female, resident of the state of Merida, entered the country through the humanitarian flight of May 9 from Ecuador, serving quarantine in Los Caracas. She is admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- Female, 33 years old, a native of the state of La Guaira, entered the country through PASI Táchira from Cartagena, Colombia. Fulfilling quarantine in Los Caracas. (Imported case).
- Male, 39 years old, a native of the Capital District, entered the country from Chile. He was quarantined in Los Caracas. She is currently admitted to the sentinel hospital in La Guaira receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 27-year-old female, who entered through a boat through Río Negro, Amazonas state, from San Gabriel, Brazil. She is confined in a CDI receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 23-year-old male, who entered through a boat through Río Negro, Amazonas state, from San Gabriel, Brazil. He is confined in a CDI receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 35-year-old male, who entered through a boat through Río Negro, Amazonas state, from San Gabriel, Brazil. He is confined in a CDI receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 18-year-old female from Bolívar state, who entered through a boat through Río Negro, Amazonas state, from San Gabriel, Brazil. She has a history of asthma. She is confined in a CDI receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- 2-year-old male, from Bolívar state, who entered through a boat through Río Negro, Amazonas state, from San Gabriel, Brazil. He is the son of the previous case. He is being held in a sentinel hospital in Caroní receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- Female, 55 years old, born in Bolívar state, who entered the country from Manaus, Brazil. She is being held in the Santa Elena de Uairén hospital receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
- Female, 25 years old, a native of the Táchira state, who entered the country from Cúcuta, Colombia. She is confined in a CDI receiving free treatment. (Imported Case).
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If the quarantine were loosened, the cases of coronavirus would skyrocket
Maduro stressed this Thursday that, if the national, social and collective quarantine measures were loosened, the positive cases due to the outbreak would skyrocket, as occurs in other countries. “If we were to loosen the quarantine, the cases would skyrocket. This is the truth. We have flattened the curve. Most of the cases are 100% imported,” he said.
“If we had not taken strong, bold, radical measures, this would be the curve for Venezuela, we would have 369,460 cases and not 455,” stressed the Venezuelan president. “You see the exponentially dramatic curve, the deadly curve, as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Chile or Peru have,” emphasized President Nicolás Maduro.
Venezuela received congratulations from the WHO
Maduro also reported that the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sent a letter to the head of the Venezuelan health portfolio, Dr. Carlos Alvarado, to highlight the strategy used in the country in the fight against COVID-19. The Venezuelan president read part of the letter sent by the WHO in which “Venezuela was congratulated for sharing a phased approach to fight against COVID-19 before and after the cases, comprehensive measures to identify and control them, as well as to educate and inform the public”.
The national president thanked WHO for accompanying the country in facing the pandemic, while referring to the support received by the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation and sister Cuba in the fight for the prevention, care and control of the COVID-19 in Venezuela.
A million tests
As of Thursday, a total of 535,742 screening tests have been conducted for Covid-19 coronavirus, Maduro said. This corresponds to 17,858 tests per million inhabitants. The Minister for Communication and Information, Jorge Rodríguez, pointed out that this makes Venezuela the country in Latin America and the Caribbean with the most tests carried out for the Covid-19 per million inhabitants.
Along these lines, Maduro Moros reported the deployment of a health team to carry out a million additional tests for the detection of the new coronavirus house by house throughout the national territory. “We are going to do 1 million tests in 10 days to consolidate the control and victory scenario over COVID-19,” he said.
Venezuela has been the victim of a bloody campaign of discredit and disinformation in international media that seek to dismiss the efforts made by the government since day zero to contain the spread of the virus.
It is important to note that the sanitary measures implemented for timely containment have positioned the South American nation as one of the countries in the region with the lowest mortality rate due to infection with the new Coronavirus.
Featured image: President Nicolas Maduro brifieng on Covid-19. Courtesy Prensa Presidencial
Translated by JRE/EF
