The acceleration of new coronavirus cases in Colombia is also causing a tragic surge in daily deaths with 380 confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Thursday, and the highest number since 390 on January 28, 2021. The worst day for deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 6, 2020, was reported last August 22 with 400 victims.
Even though per-day cases of infection appear to be stabilizing close to 17,000, during the last week, the mortality rate increased 52% or almost 6,000 the last month. The nation’s official death toll stands at 67,199. With Thursday’s 16,918 new infections, the country has registered 2,602,719 cases of which 94,583 remain active.
While the data remains grim for Colombia with the advance of the third wave, and ICU occupancy in the country’s most populated cities and departments is above 75%, including hardest-hit Antioquia (94%), Atlántico (84%), Bogotá (77%), Caldas (79%), La Guajira (88%) and Valle del Cauca (84%), the nation continues with its mass vaccination campaign, exceeding on Thursday, one million citizens getting their second doses of the Pfizer, Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines.
The cities and departments that have most vaccinated are Bogotá with 650,925, Antioquia 496,490 and Valle del Cauca 324,852. The country has begun rolling-out vaccinations for all persons aged 65 or over. In total, Colombia has administered more than 3.3 million doses and aims to reach a target at the end of April of 5 million.
