MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine province back to pandemic-era measures as Covid-19 resurges

Formosa maintains systematic Covid-19 testing, unlike the rest of the country

The Argentine province of Formosa has confirmed a significant resurgence of Covid-19, prompting health officials to re-establish preventative measures associated with the pandemic and leading to an urgent plea to the National Government over delayed vaccine deliveries.

Formosa, which maintains systematic Covid-19 testing, reported a 24% positivity rate in the last epidemiological week, confirming 341 positive cases out of 1,422 tests conducted. The majority of new infections (250) were recorded in the provincial capital.

This positivity rate aligns with national surveillance trends. Formosa's high testing volume provides a clearer picture compared to the overall national data, which suffers from a high degree of underreporting due to a drastic decline in testing. The province currently has 408 active cases, but has reported no new deaths or hospitalizations last week.

In response to the sharp increase in infections, the provincial Ministry of Human Development has advised the community to revert to the preventive measures used during the height of the pandemic, including the use of facemasks in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces, continuous cross-ventilation of closed environments, frequent hand washing, sneezing or coughing into the elbow, strictly avoiding sharing personal utensils such as mate, tereré straws, bottles, or glasses.

Formosa's Epidemiology Director Claudia Rodríguez noted that the lack of severe outcomes, such as deaths or hospitalizations, causes the public to “lose the perception of risk.” She stressed that vaccination remains a crucial tool to “reduce the transmissibility of the virus.”

A core concern compounding the outbreak is the province's inability to continue its immunization campaign due to a lack of available vaccines. Rodríguez confirmed that Formosa “does not have the necessary doses,” alleging that the vaccines are currently being held at Argentine Customs.

“The Covid-19 vaccines are at the Argentine Customs Office. It is the responsibility of the national government, through the Ministry of Public Health, to take the necessary steps to retrieve them and distribute them to the provinces,” Rodríguez stated. “Although we have been requesting supplies from the national government, there has been no response. The vaccines ran out several weeks ago.”

While infectious disease specialists have called the data “a wake-up call” rather than a cause for alarm, they emphasized that the virus is still a danger, particularly to the elderly and immunocompromised, and urged citizens to keep vaccination schedules up to date.