Charismatic Uruguayan sportscaster Alberto Sonsol passed away Thursday at the age of 63 after a battle with the covid-19 disease that lasted for about three weeks. His son Alejandro posted on social media “Dad doesn't suffer anymore.”
An Uruguay’s Air Force helicopter carrying two boxes of Pfizer vaccines against Covid-19 crashed on Thursday morning in the Eastern state of Rocha and the 3-member crew was taken to a local hospital with non-serious injuries. The accident occurred due to a “mechanical failure,” the Ministry of Defense reported and resulted in a fire that provoked total losses of the aircraft and the shipment it was transporting.
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 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.
Argentina pledged on Thursday to manage Bolivia's entry into Mercosur, after both countries relaunched their trade relationship during the official visit of the Argentine Foreign Minister, Felipe Solá, who sees the need to approve the full entry of the Andean country at the next Mercosur summit to be held on March 26.
Tens of thousands on Monday defied coronavirus restrictions, gathering worldwide on International Women's Day to denounce gender violence and inequalities.
Uruguay is very concerned, and threatened, by the situation in the city of Rivera, bordering the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul state, where the number of infections is alarming and continues to grow, while the Intensive Care Centers in the capital Porto Alegre are saturated.
American Airlines has extended the suspension and cancellation of numerous international flights including to regions that have not yet been severely impacted by the coronavirus, such as Latin America. The Fort-Worth-based airline says on 10 March that it is cutting summer international capacity by about 10% and April domestic capacity by 7.5% in response to decreasing demand.