Chile's Ministry of Agriculture declared on Friday an agriculture emergency in the extreme south Region of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica because of the hydric deficit caused by the lack of rainfall. The decision was taken following on experts projections indicating the persistence of meteorological and hydrologic drought conditions, both reflected in the shortfall of hydric surface and subterranean availability
The Chilean Ministry of Health Office in the extreme south Magallanes Region regretted the death of two patients diagnosed with Covid-19 at the Magallanes Clinic Hospital, a 79-year lady and a man of 64.
Magallanes Region, extreme south of Chile and its capital Punta Arenas have been forced by the Chilean Public Health ministry to return to Phase Four of the so called Step by Step Program, given the sustained surge of coronavirus contagions both in the region and at a national level.
The biding conditions and process for the construction the International Antarctic Center in Punta Arenas, should be ready before the end of the current government of president Sebastián Piñera, according to Magallanes governor Jorge Flies and Jennifer Rogers, presidential delegate for the region.
Next Thursday Magallanes Region will be living a historic event, for the first time an elected governor will be taking office in Punta Arenas. Until now it was the central government, Santiago that appointed the official, but since the political and social reforms that emerged from the 2019/20 upheavals including the current assembly to draft a new constitution, things have changed in Chile particularly exposing the fragility of the so-called Chilean model. And in Magallanes, an issue outstands, salmon farming in maritime spaces.
An Ethics Code to guide Chilean fish farms was announced and apparently accepted by the industry, the Salmon Breeders of Magallanes Region Association said in a release.
Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile is the country's region with the largest rate of Covid-19 positive cases, according to the latest official data. On Sunday 108 new contagion cases were reported, 44 of which of random swabbing in the region mainly in the capital Punta Arenas.
Scientists in Chile are investigating a possible mutation of the novel coronavirus in southern Patagonia, a far-flung region near the tip of the South American continent that has seen an unusually contagious second wave of infections in recent weeks.
The Chilean government appointed Jennifer Rojas as new governor of the Magallanes and Antarctic Region, following the ousting of Jose Fernandez, who had been in the post since February 2019.
Chile reported on Sunday that there were more than 10,000 people in the country with the coronavirus, the third-highest tally in Latin America, as the disease ravages the economy of the world's top copper producer.