The government of Uruguay has ordered all schools and public offices to remain closed at least until the end of Tourism (Easter) Week, President Luis Lacalle Pou announced Tuesday evening during a press conference after a long Cabinet Meeting with Ministers.
The Uruguayan government will discuss this Tuesday a radical reduction of mobility in the midst of a new wave of Covid-19 cases. This Monday, the highest number of new cases was detected, with almost 2,700 confirmed cases and a positivity rate of 18%, and the community spread of the Brazillian P-1 variant of the virus was confirmed.
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 former Uruguayan president José “Pepe” Mujica criticized the government of Luis Lacalle Pou and assured that the Covid-19 pandemic “helped” to improve his image. ”The pandemic is white (in reference to the color of the ruling party)“ and ”brought a big help“ to the government, said the former president in a radial interview on Wednesday. ”He has no responsibility, but he positioned himself well in the situation and knew how to take advantage of it”, he assured.
Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou addressed Congress on Tuesday to report on his first year and one day in office, underlining the extraordinary 2020 pandemic year which surprised the world, and Uruguay, but he also made several announcements referred to future activities and investments.
Without a great media hype, the first 192,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac arrived in Montevideo in the early hours of Friday morning. However, a police operation was deployed throughout the day to begin distributing the vaccines, which will begin to be administered on Monday, March 1, to a small group of essential workers in different parts of the capital and the interior of the country.
Uruguay will be receiving the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines next Thursday evening and the official inoculation campaign will begin on Monday March first. Over the weekend those in charge of vaccination will be the first to receive the shots, according to president Luis Lacalle Pou.
Uruguay and Paraguay presidents, Luis Lacalle Pou and Mario Abdo Benítez will be holding an open agenda meeting on Wednesday in the Uruguayan international seaside resort of Punta del Este, where the Paraguayan leader arrived late Tuesday.
The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, traveled overseas for the first time to meet with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in a meeting in which they discussed the idea of making Mercosur more flexible and the possibility of a face-to-face summit with the leaders of Argentina and Paraguay at the end of March.
Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou will be flying to Brasilia on Wednesday to share an informal lunch with his peer Jair Bolsonaro, his first overseas trip since taking office, but also a clear balancing act of the country's foreign policy regarding its two huge neighbors.