More than 30 of the 50 million inhabitants of Colombia are subject to reinforced containment from Thursday, January 7 and for five days in order to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, accelerated in favor of the end-of-year celebrations and holidays. .
The fourth largest economy in Latin America is the second country in the region in the number of Covid-19 cases (1.7 million) and the third for deaths (45,067).
Read also: Covid-19: Colombia approves Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine
Faced with the increase in contaminations in recent days, the government has ordered a tightening of containment measures to prevent an overflow of the health system.
"These measures are taken to ease the pressure on the intensive care units
(ICU)
, have a better response capacity, and prevent new infections exponentially,"
President Ivan Duque said on his daily television show.
From Thursday until Tuesday - Monday being a public holiday in Colombia - departments and municipalities registering over 70% occupancy of ICUs must restrict mobility and ban meetings in public or private spaces.
Nine of the 32 departments are concerned, as well as the cities of Bogota (center), Medellin (north-west) and Cali (south-west), the three main ones in the country, making a total of around 32 million people.
The capital of nearly eight million inhabitants, the main focus of the pandemic with around a third of the country's cases, has been declared on
“red alert”
due to an ICU occupancy rate of over 86%.
"We believe that the new strain of Covid, identified in the United Kingdom, must already circulate in Bogota,"
city mayor Claudia Lopez said at a press conference.
The presence of this strain has not yet been confirmed by the health authorities.
The mayor ordered total containment of the population of the capital from Thursday to Tuesday, followed by a nighttime curfew until January 17.
Looseness
Since Tuesday, the inhabitants of three of the localities of the capital, or some 2.7 million people, are already in strict confinement with a night curfew, to face, according to the municipality, the
"second wave of the disease"
started in early December.
In addition to the obligation to wear a mask as in the whole country, the inhabitants of Bogota have been restricted since December 21 from access to any commercial establishment every other day, depending on the last even or odd number of their document. identity.
The first case of Covid-19 was detected on March 6, 2020 in Colombia.
Three weeks later, the country imposed general confinement, extended several times until the end of August.
But in the face of the economic crisis, right-wing President Ivan Duque introduced exceptions for certain sectors, then gradually lifted most restrictions.
The epidemiologist and professor of the University of Rosario, Carlos Trillos, considers
the current spread of the virus
"serious"
, after two days in a row to more than 16,000 cases per day, that is to say
"the greatest number of cases"
daily since the start of the pandemic in the country.
"It is a reflection of the behavior of people during the end of year celebrations, during which many relaxed and did not respect the measures"
.
Read also: The Covid-19 becomes the main cause of death in Colombia
The start of the vaccination campaign is scheduled for February.
The government has acquired doses for 29 million people from Pfizer / BioNTech, Janssen and AstraZeneca laboratories, as well as through the Covax device, set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) in favor of the poorest countries .
According to the national statistics department (Dane), just over half (56%) of Colombians, however, are willing to be vaccinated.
It is
"an obstacle
(...)
generated in large part by anti-vaccine movements, with the massive dissemination of irresponsible messages without scientific basis on social networks"
, deplores Professor Trillos.
Experts are also warning of the logistical challenge of covering isolated regions in this country of mountains and jungles, with complicated topography and poor road infrastructure.
