Chile's Covid cases increase 21% in last 2 weeks despite vaccination

Chile on Sunday reported a 21 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases in the last 14 days, and the government has urged Chileans to get vaccinated and continue to maintain personal protection measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

"We will overcome this increase in new cases together and hand in hand with compliance with the vaccination schedule," said Minister of Health Enrique Paris, Xinhua news agency reported.

Chile has been facing an increase in infections for the last few weeks despite the progress of the vaccination campaign, with 52 per cent of the target population fully immunized.

Paris stated that 80 per cent of new cases "are people who have not received their full immunization".

He warned that those who do not get vaccinated "are 3.23 times more likely to be hospitalized, 3.57 times more likely to enter an intensive care unit and 4.5 times more likely to die".

According to the Ministry of Health, Chile registered 7,772 new cases of Covid-19 this Sunday, after exceeding 8,000 daily cases in the last two days, for a total of 1,377,507.

A total of 44,928 people are in the active stage of the virus, a figure that has been on the rise compared to previous weeks, causing concern among epidemiology experts.

Another 121 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 29,168.

This week, the "mobility pass" implemented by the government began to take effect in the country, granting greater freedoms to people who have been fully vaccinated.