Yet the pandemic has barely subsided. Last week, Chile broke records on its number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic on two consecutive days: 8,195 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday and 9,171 on Friday. And while the number of new cases diagnosed per day has dropped this week, the reality is that a rise that began in December has continued steadily in Chile.
As of Wednesday, Chile has approached 1.1 million total Covid-19 cases. According to Johns Hopkins University data, nearly 25,000 people have died from the disease. What went wrong?
Health authorities, experts and journalists consulted by CNN say the world can learn a lot from a multi-factor, ‘perfect storm’ that hit Chile, starting with Christmas gatherings and New Year celebrations, a sustained pressure around all schools and malls reopening, expected sense of security given the rapid rate of vaccinations and the less than desired levels of effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine, which is widely used in the country.
Francisco Álvarez, a public health expert and until recently the director of the health department in the province of Valparaíso, the second most populous in Chile, says the relaxing Covid-19 restrictions all around the end of the year holiday have all begun.
“Just before Christmas we would see whole families going shopping for presents and there would be crowds at shopping malls. From January, people were allowed to travel between provinces to go on holiday, and the virus traveled with them,” Álvarez said. said. January is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and in Chile it is usually high season for domestic and international travel.
Álvarez, who had his own battle with Covid-19 last summer and spent weeks in hospital, also said there would be crowds at the beaches in Valparaíso province, a leading tourist destination, and although his office had arranged mobile test sites , people will refuse to be tested because “they did not want to be bothered during holidays.”
“People have received two misleading messages: you can go on holiday anywhere in the country or abroad, and we are one of the best countries in Latin America when it comes to vaccination. People have understood that the risk of getting the virus “It was probably over and relaxed measures were created. It created the perfect storm,” said Álvarez, adding that there were also many high-ranking Chileans who traveled to Europe and other countries, which contributed to this. .
While in his former position in the Department of Health in Valparaíso, Álvarez’s office recorded 60 infections, mainly from young people attending the same Christmas Eve, when such gatherings were still banned.
The institution where the party was held was fined about $ 71,000. A young man who did not quarantine after testing Covid-19 positively was fined about $ 35,000.
There were at least six secret parties attended mainly by young people from Santiago, the capital. This yielded Covid-19 spikes in a region that had hitherto had a relatively low number of cases. Infections among local people have also started to increase.
Health Minister Enrique Paris said on Tuesday that while it is true that some measures were relaxed in December, he never told people to stop taking preventative measures. “We have been in quarantine in the metropolitan area for 14 days and we are seeing good results with our vaccination efforts.”
“We never said that vaccination would be the only answer. We have to vaccinate, but we also have to be aware of other things like reduced mobility, wearing masks, washing hands and taking social distance so that the virus does not spread.” Said Paris.
Although it is still too early to say whether it has made a significant contribution to the increase in cases, high-profile cases in Chile of people who have been vaccinated and still end up in hospital have caused anxiety in the country.
Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged that the effectiveness rate of Chinese Covid-19 vaccines is less than ideal and said at a conference in Chengdu on Saturday that ‘the protection rates of existing vaccines are not high not’.
Nevertheless, the Coronavac vaccine is suspected to be more effective in severe cases. Researchers from the Brazilian Instituto Butantan confirmed earlier this year that the Coronavac has a low overall efficacy, but that the vaccine is 78% effective in combating mild cases, and 100% effective for moderate and severe cases.
Izkia Siches, head of “Colegio Médico”, the largest medical association in Chile, criticized the government’s response to the pandemic, saying people are allowed to travel during the holidays, mixed messages from above and lack of resources in local clinics. the problem.
Paris, who has been in his post since June, later admitted that Chile ‘made mistakes that were likely to cause pain to many families. I ask your forgiveness. We have done everything possible to do things in the best way possible. ‘
Christopher Ulloa in Santiago contributed to this report.