COVID-19: Peru is now under a 3rd wave of Omicron infections, still no deaths
The director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, César Munayco, has stated that between the19th and 25th December, 17.529 positive cases were detected; which means a rise of 7000 new cases compared with the previous week, between the 8th and 12th December, in which 10,597 cases were reported.
Lima is the city with the biggest number of infections: in a week, the numbers changed from 6.045 to 11.471 people infected.
Analysts have stated that this 3rd wave is different from the second due to the vaccine effectiveness. Last reports indicate that 80% of the population has been vaccine and there are no deaths reported.
The Minister of Health Hernando Cevallos, remarked that Peru is clearly under a 3rd wave and that they will have a meeting today with experts of the National Health Institute to announced this situation publicly.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has opened in Lima and Callao, 40 centers to offer molecular tests to diagnose coronavirus at no cost. People can request a test in case they present symptoms of corona or if they are suspicious to have the virus, the results will be send to their emails and if they get a positive result, the sanitary protocols will be adapted.
CEPAL: Perú, the economy with the most solid growth in South America in 2022
The Economic Comission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), said that the peruvian Economy will achieve a growth of 4,4%, surpassing other countries, such as Colombia (3,8%), Chile (3,2%) and Brasil (2,2%).
Only Panama (8,2%); República Dominicana, (5,5%) y El Salvador (4,6%) show these high numbers.
On the other side, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last october that the peruvian economy would lead the regional growth: in first place, they have modified the increase of GDP for 2021, from 8,5% to 10%; while for 2022, this would be of 4,6% (it used to be 5,2%).
Remote work extended thru December 31, 2022
The Government of Peru has ordered to extend the remote work period for public and private sectors —which was approved within the framework of the health emergency caused by COVID-19— until December 31, 2022.
The above-mentioned period was extended by Urgency Decree No. 115-2021, which was published on Thursday in the Official Gazette El Peruano.
It also regulates the modality of remote work, which is mandatory for employees who belong to the risk group as long as the COVID-19 health emergency lasts.
Vaccines for 2022
The Minister of Health Hernando Cevallos, announced a contract signed with Pfizer for 35,000,000 doses and another with Moderna pharmaceutical company for 20,000,000. Thus, 55,000,000 vaccine doses will arrive in 2022.
The minister said that these vaccines are the ones that have shown greater efficacy in the face of the variants that are appearing, such as Omicron
In December 2021, the Health Ministry (Minsa) received 8,625,600 doses which were distributed nationwide. Of the total amount of vaccines that arrived, 6,435,000 doses came from Pfizer and 2,190,600 from AstraZeneca.