Chile

• Wednesday, January 13th 2021 - 07:35 UTC

  Piñera and Chilean First Lady under “preventive quarantine”

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and his wife Cecilia Morel are to begin “preventive quarantine” after coming into close contact with a person later diagnosed to have COVID-19, the president's press office said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, January 5th 2021 - 09:42 UTC

  Chile's unemployment eases to 10,8% but still several points above 2019

  

  Chile's unemployment rate eased to 10.8% between September and November, the government said in the last day of 2020, but remained well above the same period the previous year as the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on the economy of the world's top copper producer.

• Tuesday, January 5th 2021 - 09:15 UTC

  Qatar Airways and LATAM expand South America networks

  

  Qatar Airways is pleased to announce it has increased São Paulo services to 10 weekly flights and expanded codeshare cooperation with LATAM Airlines Brasil optimizing connectivity for both airline’s passengers to and from destinations in Asia, the Middle East and South America. The new codeshare agreement will further strengthen the two airlines’ strategic partnership, first initiated in 2016 and recently expanded in June 2019.

• Friday, January 1st 2021 - 21:59 UTC

  Reflections about very busy times in Chile: “2020, a year like no other”

  

  From the repatriation of British tourists stranded in Chile to the preparations for the UK’s exit from the EU, Ambassador Ian Duddy, speaks about this year's work.

• Monday, December 28th 2020 - 08:50 UTC

  Sunday 6,8 magnitude earthquake rocks south central Chile on Sunday

  

  An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck off the coast of south-central Chile on Sunday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said, but Chilean officials immediately discarded the risk of a tsunami.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:25 UTC

  Coronavirus sniffer dogs at Santiago de Chile international airport

  

  The task of sniffing out passengers infected with COVID-19 at Chile's Santiago international airport is going to the dogs. A team of Golden Retrievers and Labradors sit when they smell the virus and get a treat. The canines sport green “biodetector” jackets with a red cross.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2020 - 08:46 UTC

  Chilean army base in Antarctica detects 36 positive Covid-19 cases; Navy support vessel blamed

  

  A coronavirus outbreak with 36 positive tests was reported on Monday at a Chilean Army base in Antarctica, the only continent, up to now, free of the virus. The army's Monday release said that at the Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme base, following suspicions, swabbing testing was practiced in all personnel resulting in 36 positive cases, of which 26 belonging to the Army and ten to members of a contractor, doing maintenance work at the base.

• Monday, December 21st 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  Argentina and Chile suspend flights from UK as of midnight Tuesday

  

  Argentina and Chile announced late Sunday that they are suspending flights from the UK after health officials in Britain confirmed that a new variant of the coronavirus was rapidly spreading in the country.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 09:40 UTC

  Chilean president fined US$ 3,500 after posing for a selfie without a face mask

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera was slapped with a US$ 3,500 fine on Friday after posing for a selfie on the beach with a bystander without wearing a mask as required during the coronavirus pandemic, health authorities said.

• Thursday, December 17th 2020 - 10:32 UTC

  Chile approved the use of Pfizer vaccines; first batch expected this month

  

  The Chilean health regulator has approved for emergency use the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, paving the way for the first doses to be administered as early as Christmas to citizens over the age of 16.