Santiago (Chile), January 17: Chile for the second consecutive day registered a record number of daily COVID-19 cases after reporting 9,454 infections in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Sunday.
Cases from the past seven days rose 144 percent from the previous week, and cases from the past 14 days increased 249 percent compared to the previous two weeks.
Chile's Undersecretary of Public Health Maria Teresa Valenzuela encouraged Chileans to intensify self-care measures, but stressed that despite the high number of cases, deaths and intensive care unit bed occupancy are lower than those during previous waves of the disease.
"The current situation we are experiencing shows us that vaccines are effective and reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill and dying from the virus. We still have people who are lagging behind, who do not have their booster dose, and so we invite them to go to a vaccination clinic to take it as soon as possible," she said.
She also invited those immunocompromised people who have already received a booster shot to also take a fourth dose of vaccine.
With the latest figures, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the South American country has risen to 1,876,610, and with 18 deaths from the disease recorded over the past day, the death toll has risen to 39,394.
Source: Xinhua
