Colombia hits all-time daily Covid-19 death record

Amid a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases, Colombia recorded 420 deaths in the last 24 hours, an all-time record since the beginning of the pandemic. The previous peak of daily casualties was 400, registered back in August of last year. 

Though Colombia’s coronavirus woes in 2020 paled in comparison to neighbors Ecuador and Brazil, the country is struggling to get a handle on the crisis this year. To curb the spread of the virus and “avoid a hospital collapse,” in the words of Bogotá Mayor Claudia López, the capital decided to impose a weekend curfew as of Friday. Citizens will not be allowed to leave home between 8 pm and 4 am, as Ms. López warned that hospital occupancy rates are “already at 84 percent.”

Colombia has registered a total of 2.6 million coronavirus infections and almost 70,000 deaths. Vaccination has been slow, with only 2.4 percent of the population fully vaccinated so far.

• #latinAmerica
• #pandemic