Almost all of Santiago's 7 million inhabitants regained their freedom of movement on Monday after months of confinement and one month before a constitutional referendum intended to appease the social crisis.
The Chilean capital and its metropolitan area began a slow process of deconfinement on August 12, which was almost completed on Monday with the lifting of restrictions in eight new municipalities out of 36. Only two municipalities are still under restrictions.
Read also: Coronavirus: end of five months of confinement in the center of Santiago, the Chilean capital
In total, 97% of residents can now move around freely.
Chile has extended the state of emergency which imposes a nighttime curfew until December 15, but travel between the 16 regions of the country is now allowed for travelers with a permit.
However, the external borders remain closed to tourism and trade is slowing down.
The majority of companies practice teleworking, schools and universities provide distance education.
In the capital, which concentrates the vast majority of Covid-19 cases, the almost total lifting of restrictions, with the reopening of terraces, is nevertheless considered with caution.
The fear of a rebound in contagions persists: Santiago has recorded 1,800 new cases daily for two months, a
"long plateau",
experts estimate.
"It's as if I agreed and at the same time I was not,"
hesitates Gabriela Flores, a 21-year-old student, who is coming out of 172 days of confinement.
Johanna Medina, a 38-year-old housewife, thinks
the measure
“should have been extended”
, while others are grateful that they have regained some freedom.
“It's good for the mental well-being of people. It was getting very complicated, ”
blows Sergio Silva, a 60-year-old janitor.
In this country of 18 million inhabitants, 1,770 new cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing to 459,671 the number of people infected since March 3.
Some 12,698 people have died, 17,075 taking into account the cases declared as
"suspect".
More than 14 million Chileans are called upon to vote on October 18 for or against the drafting of a new Constitution to replace the current one, voted in 1980, in the midst of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
This is one of the main demands expressed by the demonstrators during the violent social crisis of October 2019.
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