Covid-19 reaches Antarctica: Chile reports 36 infections in one of its bases

The Chilean base General Bernardo O'Higgins, in Antarctica, Instituto Antartico Chileno

The covid-19 pandemic has reached Antarctica, one of the most isolated and unpopulated territories in the world, at its southern tip.

The Chilean Army, in charge of the Bernardo O'Higgins base, has reported 36 infected –26 uniformed and 10 civilians–, who have already been isolated and are in good health.

Through a statement, the military institution has added that the site, a Chilean scientific research station located in the Magallanes region, has already been completely sanitized.

The patients presented symptoms and then the diagnosis of coronavirus was confirmed by PCR tests.

The 26 uniformed men correspond to the totality of those who remained at the military base.

The 10 civilians are “from a contractor company that was carrying out scheduled maintenance work at the base,” as detailed by the Army on its air base, which under strict protocols had managed to stay free of the coronavirus for more than nine months.

Infected in one of the most pristine territories on the planet, where human occupation is regulated and limited, the sick “are duly isolated and constantly monitored with the support of the health authority of the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, achieving up to At the moment, we will have a favorable diagnosis without any type of complication associated with covid-19 on the part of our personnel ”, the Army added in its statement.

The contagions at the military base are confirmed a few days after the Chilean Navy reported that the crew of the ship Sargento Aldea had initiated a preventive quarantine inside the ship, after the registration of three cases of coronavirus among its 208 crew members.

The vessel visited the Bernardo O'Higgins base between November 27 and December 10.

Built in 1948, the Bernardo O'Higgins is the second Chilean base established in Antarctica.

Installed in an area with extreme climatic conditions, it has provided constant support to all kinds of environmental and meteorological studies, maritime positioning and safety.

Vaccination campaign

The coronavirus outbreak in the Chilean Antarctic territory occurs precisely when the numbers of infections increase in Chile, a country that will start inoculation with the Pfizer vaccine this week, as reported by the Government of Sebastián Piñera.

Only in Santiago de Chile, cases have increased between 15% and 17% in the last week.

According to this Tuesday's count, 1,699 new cases were registered in the country, bringing the total number of infected since the beginning of March to 589,189, with 16,217 deaths.

Currently, there are 12,794 active cases throughout the territory and 2,564 hospitalized.

Health authorities announced on Monday that, at least until January 4, the entire Metropolitan Region (the capital) will remain in a transition phase, that is, with quarantine on weekends, without the possibility of traveling to other regions.

The curfew, meanwhile, will be extended throughout the country as of December 26: it will not begin at midnight, but will be in effect between ten at night and five in the morning.

It is a measure that seeks to discourage the social instances that promote infection, especially among young people.

If at the beginning of the pandemic the average age of those infected was 54 years, now it is 39.

According to the information provided by the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, this week the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in Chile.

“We have an agreement with Pfizer to receive now, in December, the first (20,400) doses that we will use in the Metropolitan, Biobío, Araucanía and Magallanes regions.

There are 9,875 people who are going to be vaccinated with these first doses, ”said Paris in an interview with the newspaper

La Tercera

.

“In January we will receive three more shipments, of approximately 86,000 doses each.

In February there will be another four shipments, each of 129,000 doses.

In March it will be almost 600,000.

And with the Sinovac laboratory (...) there are five deliveries, which between January and February add up to almost 10 million doses, ”reported Paris, which was concerned about the impressive crowds that occur these days in the country's shopping centers, prior to Christmas.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- The coronavirus map: this is how cases grow day by day and country by country

- Questions and answers about the coronavirus

- Guide to action against the disease

- In case of symptoms, these are the telephones that have been enabled in each Latin American country.