Thousands of fresh graves are being dug in Santiago's main cemetery amid a spike in Chile's COVID-19 cases, authorities said on Thursday. Chile's infection rate soared this week, prompting the government to declare a mandatory lockdown of Santiago's seven million people from Friday.
Chile is set to face the worst of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the coming weeks, President Sebastian Piñera said on Tuesday, as a sharp spike in cases and the southern hemisphere winter push its healthcare system to the limit.
Chile ordered strict new quarantine measures on three districts in the capital Santiago after a sudden spike in coronavirus cases on Sunday. The health ministry reported a surge of 1,228 new infections, bringing the total to nearly 20,000 nationwide and dealing a blow to hopes it was over the worst of the crisis.
With historically low river flows and reservoirs running dry due to drought, people in central Chile have found themselves particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. Years of resource exploitation and lax legislation have allowed most reservoirs in that part of the country to run dry.
A month of intense protests against inequality and police repression in Santiago have transformed the Chilean capital’s streetscape into a caterwaul of graffiti whose messages reflect the deep discontent in this once genteel Latin American city.
Chile’s finance minister warned on Tuesday of the “grave consequences” for the nation’s economy of three weeks of often violent unrest after the peso slid 4% to hit a historic low against the dollar. Ignacio Briones said the weakening of the peso was a “sign of worry” that he and his colleagues were watching very carefully.
Around 75,000 people took to the streets in Santiago on Friday as part of ongoing anti-government protests in Chile. Local press reported the mostly peaceful demonstration as the second-largest since the protests broke out three weeks ago.
Chile's President Sebastian Piñera on Thursday announced a series of measures to tighten public order in the wake of three weeks of anti-government protests that have left at least 20 people dead.
Chile has withdrawn as host of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit in November and the COP25 climate conference in December after several weeks of violent unrest, President Sebastian Piñera announced on Wednesday. He described the decision as “deeply painful” but “common sense” dictated the decision to withdraw from the two major international summits.
The Chilean government established on Friday night a state of national emergency in the capital Santiago and surrounding areas following extensive arson, rioting and looting in the city by students protesting transport fares, particularly subway fares, which are considered among the most expensive in the region.