Coronavirus: Chile extends 'state of disaster' by three months

Chile extended Monday for three months the "constitutional emergency for disaster" to curb the epidemic of coronavirus, a legal basis that allows authorities to use the military to ensure public order. "It's about protecting the lives of Chileans," said Defense Minister Alberto Espina. The measure, first decreed on March 18, notably allows the night curfew to remain in force for three months and establish containment.

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Chile is hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The South American country of 18 million inhabitants recorded 179,436 reported cases, including 3,362 deaths. The management of the pandemic and a controversy over the methodology for counting deaths cost his post to the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich, who announced his resignation Saturday. He was replaced by Enrique Paris, pediatrician and former president of the Ordre des médecins.

Chile was one of the first Latin American countries to declare a preventive health emergency on February 7. A few weeks later, he closed his borders, suspended lessons, declared a curfew and implemented a massive screening policy. But unlike other Latin American countries, the country opted for modular confinements according to the outbreaks and not for general confinement.

While these selective quarantines have worked well in affluent neighborhoods, they have proven much less effective in poorer neighborhoods.