Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou has announced new restrictive measures that will be in effect until April 12 to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Public offices will be closed except for essential services, and personal learning for all levels of education will also be suspended. Clubs, gyms, amateur sports, public shows, parties and social events are also suspended, and restaurants and bars close at midnight. Free shops on the Brazilian border, duty-free shops where Brazilians shop for resale in their cities, will also be closed.
“If the free stores are a hub (for risk), then we’ll close them,” the president of Uruguay said at a news conference Tuesday night.
Uruguay’s neighbor Brazil is one of the world’s hardest hit countries by the pandemic, with overwhelming intensive care units, increasing cases and some essential medical supplies running out. It has the second highest number of virus cases and deaths, exceeded only by the United States.
The president also said the number of IC beds in the country will be increased by 35 additional beds for the private sector, 10 for the military hospital and 84 for the public sector.
“Stay in your bubble, stay with your closest family,” Lacalle said.
Uruguay set a record for new cases and deaths on Monday, with 2,700 new cases and 19 new deaths. On Monday, health authorities also said 24 cases of the Brazilian P.1 variant have been discovered in the country. On the same day, the country also set a record for the number of active cases – 14,418 and a record for the number of people in the ICU – 188.
According to the Ministry of Health, the country registered 1,801 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, out of a total of 86,007 cases since the start of the pandemic. Also, 16 additional virus-related deaths were recorded on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 827.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) pointed to an increase in the number of cases in Uruguay during its weekly press conference on Tuesday. PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne said Uruguay has reported more than 1,000 cases per day several times in recent weeks, “which is alarming given the size of the country.”
The current population of Uruguay is 3,482,469 on March 24, 2021, based on the Worldometer elaboration of the most recent United Nations data.