Chile shuts down flights to tackle raging infections

Chile has shut down most commercial air travel for 30 days starting on 5 April in an effort to tackle an unprecedented wave of Covid-19 infections.

During this period, Chileans can only travel abroad for urgent humanitarian or health reasons with an extraordinary permit. Most non-residents are not allowed to fly into the country.

Truck drivers entering Chile require a negative Covid-19 test. Those who test positive for the virus at the border will be sent into quarantine housing, putting the onus on the transportation company to take charge of the cargo and replace the driver.

The restrictions are part of a new package of heightened measures announced by the health and interior ministries today in response to soaring rates of infection that have defied Chile's accelerated vaccination drive.

About 16mn Chileans, or more than 80pc of the population, were already under quarantine, but compliance has been mixed.

The health ministry reported 7,830 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the accumulated caseload to more than 1mn. The test-positivity rate is 11.02pc. Total Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic just over a year ago have reached 23,328.

The deteriorating health conditions prompted the government to postpone 10-11 April elections for a constitutional convention, governors, mayors and city councils. The senate is currently considering a government proposal to hold the elections on 15-16 May.

More than 30pc of Chileans have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, dwarfing incipient vaccination campaigns in the rest of Latin America.

Elsewhere in the region, Bolivia announced today that it is closing its border with Brazil for seven days in an effort to check the spread of the more transmissible Brazilian Covid-19 variant.

By Patricia Garip