Virus cases accelerate on Colombia’s northern coast

Spain imposes second local lockdown in two days

BoGota/madrId (reuters) – Coronavirus cases and deaths are surging along Colombia’s Caribbean coast as the region becomes the epicenter of the pandemic in the andean country, with doctors warning many deaths are going undetected.

Colombia – latin america’s third-most populous nation – has officially reported more than 113,000 cases of coronavirus and just under 4,000 deaths among its 50 million inhabitants.

the climbing figures pale in comparison with neighboring countries, with regional giant Brazil exceeding 64,200 deaths on saturday.

Colombia’s Caribbean region accounts for close to 40% of the country’s reported cases and just over half its deaths, according to an analysis of government data by the World health organization (Who).

president Ivan duque told reuters last month his government was escalating its response to the pandemic in the Caribbean region, given the concentration of cases there, after taking strict measures to slow infection in cities like Cartagena.

there is no definitive hypothesis about why there has been higher mortality in the coast region, but officials and doctors say flouting of social distancing rules and a higher incidence of certain other diseases may play a role.

atlantico province, with its port capital Barranquilla, has registered more than 1,300 deaths – more than Bogota, even though atlantico has only about one-third of the capital’s population.

doctors there say that despite an increased number of intensive care beds and stricter social distancing measures, deaths are likely being underreported in Barranquilla, which has a population of 1.2 million people.

“We continue to think there is a dissociation in what is happening in the city and what is being reported officially,” Carmen polo, a doctor in Barranquilla and president of the Colombian association of Internal medicine’s (aCmI) Caribbean chapter, told reuters.

Barranquilla health secretary humberto mendoza denied there was significant underreporting of deaths in the city.

meanwhile, the northwestern spanish region of Galicia imposed restrictions on about 70,000 people on sunday following a CoVId-19 outbreak, a day after Catalonia also introduced a local lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

people living in a marina along spain’s northern coast in the province of lugo will not be able to leave the area from midnight on sunday until Friday, two days before regional elections in Galicia on july 12.

prime minister pedro sanchez, speaking at a local political rally in Bilbao on sunday, urged people not to lower their guard, but called for calm as “the early detection of these outbreaks shows the health system is much better prepared” than in march.

the regional government said people will be allowed to move around a marina, but only those who need to travel for work will be allowed to leave or enter the area.

regional health minister jesus Vazquez almuina told a news conference on sunday that the biggest outbreaks were linked to several bars in the area. regional health authorities said there were now 258 cases in Galicia, of which 117 were in lugo.

Capacity in bars and restaurants will be reduced to 50% and people will have to wear a face mask even if outdoors on beaches or at swimming pools, the authorities said.

spain’s health minister salvador Illa said on sunday that the ministry was following the situations in Galicia and Catalonia very closely.

“social distancing and lockdown measures were the key to flattening the curve. now they are needed again to stop the outbreaks,” he said in tweet.

spain has registered 205,545 coronavirus cases and 28,385 deaths according to health ministry data, making it one of europe’s worst-affected countries.