04/14/2021 7:59 AM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 04/14/2021 10:30
The Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, assured this Wednesday that
Argentina is experiencing a "critical moment" and that the situation "is delicate"
due to the increase in infections, in the middle of the second wave of coronavirus, and
asked the population "to only go out to work
.
"
In addition, and although he said that they have "expectations" that it will be completed soon, he admitted that
they have not confirmed the arrival of new shipments of vaccines.
"It is the most difficult message that I have to give since the pandemic began. We are at a critical moment,
not only from the health, but from the economic, from the emotional," said the official at the start of her press conference in the pink House.
Vizzotti also said that the situation is "delicate" and asked to comply with the protocols.
"
If they are not fulfilled, we will not be able to stop the second wave,
" he warned.
Intensive therapy amid the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.
"It is important to avoid all activity that is not a priority. That
we do the bare minimum
. Let's
only go to work, take the children to school. That nothing that can be left for the future be done. We ask you to postpone everything that it can be postponed, "he said emphatically.
Insisting on the worrying scenario in the middle of the second wave of infections, the head of the health portfolio remarked that "I don't have to say so but the situation is delicate, the health system is in tension and
the situation is not the same than last year
. "
That is why Vizzotti emphasized the need to increase care and argued that it is important to wear a chinstrap even within homes and among the same family group: "Now winter is coming and this is where we are going to have more meetings in closed spaces, and that's when where we need to
wear a chinstrap even with the people we love and with whom we live
because if we are going out to do activities we can have contact with someone who starts symptoms in the next 48 hours and we are at risk, "he said.
In this context, he explained that they have not yet confirmed the arrival of new vaccines, despite the fact that President Alberto Fernández said on Friday that two million doses would arrive from China in the next few days.
"When the production of the batch ends, the quality control is done, and at that moment it is notified and a search is made. That is not happening and
we are waiting for some information as soon as possible
. We are working and we expect that soon we will have a new shipment. We hope to receive a shipment of vaccines soon, "he explained.
Vizzotti with the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero, in one of the meetings at Casa Rosada.
Photo: Presidency.
The official also focused on the possibility that different jurisdictions have to expand the restrictions.
For Vizzotti, the "effectiveness" of the measures imposed by the Government depends largely on the "
control of the jurisdictions
."
"The DNU and the legal framework give the power to the jurisdictions to expand the measures according to the epidemiological realities," said Vizzotti.
It refers to article 17 of DNU 235/21, which states that governors are empowered "to adopt additional provisions to those provided in this decree, focused, transitory and of local scope, in order to mitigate early infections by Covid-19 ".
Vizzotti's sayings come after a new record was recorded on Tuesday with 27,001 confirmed cases in 24 hours.
The effectiveness of a dose of Sinopharm
Asked about the controversy surrounding the lack of information on the effectiveness that the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine would have when the first dose was deferred, Vizzotti gave the floor to the Undersecretary of Health Strategies, Juan Manuel Castelli.
The official released the numbers that the health portfolio has on the experience of people who have already received a dose of any of the vaccines that are applied in the country.
"To date, with more than two million Sputnik V, 14 days after the first application we have had 0.27% reported cases (of coronavirus)," he said, adding that "in the case of Sinopharm, in 1,200,000 doses,
at 14 days only 0.49%
of these vaccinated people
have been reported
as confirmed COVID cases ".
A dose of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine is applied to a man in La Plata.
Photo: Xinhua.
He also noted that with the Covishield vaccine (the one from AstraZeneca which is manufactured in India) "it is 0.46% at 14 days."
On Tuesday, a dozen ministers came to the Casa Rosada for an official meeting that was not on the agenda.
President Alberto Fernández participated in the ministerial summit, which lasted for three hours, virtually.
In the national and Buenos Aires executive there is
concern
about the relative lack of compliance with the measures that were implemented last Friday.
However, government sources let Clarín know that - in addition to the epidemiological analysis - among the ministers there is anger with the governors, because they do not involve the local security forces in the control of the measures, as mandated by chapter 4 of the DNU signed by the President last week.
The provincial government that demanded
tougher measures
from the Nation and warned about agglomerations was coincidentally that of the Buenos Aires native Axel Kicillof.
From the Nation they also targeted the head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, because they affirm that he does not control that the opening of businesses is from 10 o'clock so that they do not coincide with the flow to schools, as he promised in a press conference.
During the meeting, the ministers evaluated new economic and targeted measures for certain sectors in the face of
possible new restrictions
.
While versions of a
total closure for 14 days are
circulating
, as proposed by the Province, official sources indicate that there would be no determination before the weekend.
Before that meeting, Cafiero and Vizzotti met with Transport Minister Mario Meoni and with his Security counterpart, Sabina Frederic.
There they established that
the windows of trains and buses be fixed
to keep them open and ensure air circulation.
Buenos Aires Chief of Cabinet Carlos Bianco had warned in the morning at a press conference that a
unilateral closure
of the Province would have a relative impact if it is not accompanied by the Government and the City.
JPE
Look also
Second wave of Covid: few vaccines, many infections and the "curve of anguish" in 10 questions
"Intermittent" restrictions, closures by zones and less essential in public transport: what measures the Government analyzes after the suggestion of the experts