Following the latest death toll from covid-19 in Uruguay (238 in the last seven days), the country moved up to second place in South America in terms of the number of deaths from the disease relative to its population (3.5 million) in the last week. A study shows that the behaviour of the population in the face of the pandemic during 2020 has changed in the last weeks, resulting in more mobility amid record daily cases and a progressive vaccination program.
Argentina filed a formal complaint Tuesday before Uruguay for allowing a British Royal Air Force transport aircraft serving the Falkland Islands to refuel at Montevideo on April 4, it was reported.
Uruguay's Foreign Ministry Monday submitted a formal request to the Argentine government to hold a meeting to discuss the flexibility of Mercosur, it was reported.
In 2020, the Uruguayan government agreed on a framework agreement for the dredging and widening of the access channel to the port of Montevideo, which provoked criticism from neighbouring Argentina. Now the Argentine government has informed Uruguay that it has authorized the dredging of the access channel to the port of Montevideo to only 13 meters, and not 14, as announced by the current and previous Uruguayan governments.
Paraguay's Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo Tuesday cried out to the world, particularly Taiwan and the United States, for anti-covid-19 vaccines to curb the spread of the disease which has killed over 4,000 people so far.
Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou Monday stood by the words he said during Friday's virtual Mercosur Summit which led to a rife with his Argentina counterpart Alberto Fernández.
In the aftermath of Friday's presidential clash between Alberto Fernández and Uruguay's Luis Lacalle Pou over the Mercosur's alleged lack of “flexibility,” Argentine Foreign Ministry's Cabinet Chief Guillermo Chaves said Saturday in a radio interview that the bloc's fundamental identity was to negotiate jointly on behalf of all members, but if each partner was allowed to hold deals individually, the association would lose its raison d'être.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández told his Uruguayan counterpart Luis Lacalle Pou his country did not want to be “a burden on anyone” when the latter called for signs of “flexibilization” on the part of Mercosur to allow member states to seek unilateral foreign trade agreements elsewhere without the bloc's approval.
Although a few weeks ago we talked about Uruguay as a milestone in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, with very few daily cases and a lower mortality rate than any other country in the region, the country of 3.5 million inhabitants surpassed this Sunday the 13 thousand active cases after several record days of daily positives. Scientific and medical societies are demanding measures to stop the spread of the virus despite the fact that 1 out of 10 Uruguayans have already received the first dose of the vaccine – Pfizer or Coronavac – against the disease.
The Mercosur face-to-face presidential summit scheduled for 26th March originally planned to take place in Argentina that currently holds the rotating chair of the block, will be held online because of the sanitary situation in the region.