Could there be a re-outbreak of coronavirus in Chile?
3:09
(CNN Spanish) -
The morning is cold at the Carabineros training camp in Santiago de Chile.
Clifford, Cofi, Dakar and Kaylin run, zigzag and go up and down ramps guided by the military wearing their rigorous face mask.
These four dogs of the canine unit of the Carabineros de Chile have spent years working in the detection of explosives accelerators and today they have a titanic task ahead of them.
That of detecting, with its incredible smell, people infected with coronavirus.
"For them it would be exposing themselves or learning a new smell, a new aroma, and that is the mission that we have to work with," says Fernando Mardones, professor of veterinary epidemiology at the University of Chile.
The country exceeded 400,000 infections and 11,000 deaths from covid-19 and is fighting on all possible fronts against the spread of a virus that does not give up.
“It is a very hard figure.
There are 11,000 families that have suffered some loss and, without a doubt, we as a country hoped to have a better response ”, acknowledges Dr. Claudia Cortés, vice president of the Chilean Society of Infectology.
"We have been preparing, increasing the capacity of the intensive care unit, but even so our mortality is quite high," he says.
According to the specialist, the number of deaths per million inhabitants, perhaps the easiest number to compare between countries, leaves Chile "in a very critical position."
Although in recent weeks the rate of new cases has decreased and mortality has dropped a bit, the accumulated number, says Cortés, “is very significant and we are very fearful of a second wave or a re-outbreak, and that is to what we are facing ”.
Could there be a re-outbreak of coronavirus in Chile?
3:09
The news in neighboring Argentina is not encouraging either, since that country has one of the longest quarantines in the world and has already surpassed Chile in the number of infected.
Colombia also joins the list of countries with a high growth of cases.
The scenario in Central America does not look good either.
Peru and Ecuador continue their fight against the spread of the virus.
The same happens with the giants of the continent, Brazil and Mexico.
The projections offered by Dr. Rafael Lozano, director of Health Systems at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington, are conclusive:
“
Currently the numbers reported by the countries of the region establish 260,000 accumulated deaths from coronavirus .
Our estimate is that this will increase around 2,800 deaths per day by the end of 2020. ”
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But in this virus-man relationship, humanity has work ahead.
Chile gets ready to reopen 0:51
Since the World Health Organization declared covid-19 a pandemic on March 11, the message about the importance of hand washing, the use of a mask, social distance and a correct testing plan has been almost constant.
At least in most countries.
“If we used the mask, in December we would have 50,000 fewer deaths.
In other words, we would be reducing around 2,400 deaths a day, or perhaps more, ”says Lozano.
Covid-19 in Latin America: death forecasts for the end of the year 6:45
The number is conclusive and works as a mirror for society and individual responsibilities.
But with country and family economies in tatters, the need to go out and earn a living collides with popular exhaustion from endless confinement.
The cocktail has an explosive effect and the only one it favors is a virus that does not stop advancing.
There are more than 25 million infected in the world, and the million deaths is an ever closer number.
The epicenter of covid-19 is moving with the virus's own speed.
From China to Europe, from there to the United States and then to Latin America.
India looms as the next destination.
These dogs will help detect cases of covid-19 3:05
The temperature rises and the fog disperses in Santiago de Chile.
As the world waits with open arms for the arrival of a saving vaccine, Clifford, Cofi, Dakar and Kaylin continue their arduous task.
Chile is willing to use all its weapons against the expansion of SARS-CoV-2 and for this it does not rule out man's best friend.
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