MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Chile, once the darling of foreign investors, struggling with coronavirus, inequality and poor public services
The country witnessed a record jump of nearly 5,000 confirmed cases on Monday, with another rise of nearly 4,000 on Tuesday Chile's government is struggling to control a coronavirus outbreak that could revive mass social unrest as its hospital system comes under increasing pressure. With a population of 18 million, Chile is reporting new Covid-19 cases at a pace comparable to that of Spain at the peak of the virus' spread in March, on a per capita basis, and resources are close to maxed out in Latin America's wealthiest economy.
Adding to the public health crisis, the situation has highlighted the inequality and poor public services that drove millions of protesters to the streets last October. In Santiago, the nation's capital, 95% of intensive care beds are occupied, and hospital patients are being airlifted to other parts of the country. The country witnessed a record jump of nearly 5,000 confirmed cases on Monday, with another rise of nearly 4,000 on Tuesday.
That came on the back of a surge in infections last week, which prompted the government to order the lockdown of Santiago, the main focus of the pandemic in Chile. The Senate was also closed after three senators tested positive for the coronavirus. Sessions were held by video conference. The latest model projections by the University of Washington see deaths rising to nearly 12,000 in Chile by August.
President Sebastian Piñera unveiled a national agreement to strengthen five factors identified as central to successfully emerging from the epidemic, such as health, welfare, household earnings, economic recovery and a fiscal framework.
“We are convinced that fighting to protect the health and lives of our compatriots, protect workers' jobs, household incomes, the survival of companies, and to reactivate our economy and our capacity to get back on our feet... deserves a great national agreement,” Mr Piñera told reporters.
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Read all comments@Reeky
May 30th, 2020 - 01:09 pm +2That last Reeky comment was so full of shite that it's laughable. He seems to forget -- and let's say it again--- that some 40 percent of the Argentines are living in poverty.
Let that sink in. It certainly won't get past Reeky's filters.
His notions about water law practices in Chile are also off the mark. I personally own two properties in southern Chile which have totally free, gravity fed water from local mountains. Free. No state fees, no permits, no bureaucracy stealing funds as you would have in Argentina. Likewise I've visited water harvest projects in the north of Chile which are totally unregulated. So Reeky again is simply lying to us. Larger water projects where there are scarce resources are indeed sometimes regulated, as in the civilised nations. But it's also a sometimes.
Even before the pandemic, the chilenitos enjoyed considerably higher per capita GDP than Argentina, with lower tax rates. And a great deal less corruption eating up the rest. Of course, no one will ever be able to get Reeky to understand how much peronist corruption keeps the country from any hope of being successful, solvent, or respectable.
@ reeky: “...old Milton Friedman's monetarist theories...”
May 29th, 2020 - 04:57 pm +1----------
It's curious and telling that reeky prefers the opposing [Argentine] model that provides massive levels of political and social corruption, a currency that devalues visibly each week, 50 percent annual inflation, and some 40 percent of the population living in poverty.
“Nothing more offensive than a free market capitalistic economy and an independent central bank with prudent fiscal spending”
May 29th, 2020 - 08:18 pm +1Hmm. He doesn't seem to mind living in a country with those things...
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