COVID-19 pandemic in Chile


The COVID-19 pandemic in Chile is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Chile in March 2020. While initial cases had been imported from South East Asia and Europe, they expanded into a sizeable quantity of untraceable infections, placing the country within phase 4 of the pandemic as defined by the World Health Organization, and surpassing a thousand confirmed cases on 25 March 2020.
The cases have concentrated in the Greater Santiago area, with outbreaks in other areas like the Norte Grande, Araucanía, Chillán and Punta Arenas. No national lockdown has been established in Chile, as in neighbouring Bolivia and Peru, but only in some communes and urban areas. On 16 May 2020, the whole city of Santiago was put under mandatory quarantine due to an increase of cases; similar situation was extended to Valparaíso-Viña del Mar, Antofagasta, Arica and Iquique the following month.
, Chile has the third largest number of cases in South America, after Brazil, Mexico, and Peru, and the eighth largest in the world. Considering its population, Chile has one of the worst outbreaks in the world, with more than 16,000 cases and 577 deaths per million inhabitants. Initially, the number of fatalities reported was lower than other countries in the region, even with less cases. However, in May 2020 the number of cases and deaths increased rapidly, while several sources reported additional numbers of excess deaths not counted. By June 2020, the government confirmed thousands of additional deaths due to COVID-19, including suspected cases where PCR tests were not available. By July 2020, the number of deceased surpassed 10,000 people.
The impact of the pandemic has been great in the South American country. In March 2020, when the first cases of COVID-19 appeared, the country was still facing protests and riots that had begun in October 2019, and the pandemic affected the scheduled 2020 Chilean national plebiscite, which was rescheduled. Partial lockdowns and quarantines were established in the first months, hitting the economy of the country. By April 2020, unemployment had reached 9%, a record-high level in the past 10 years, while the economy had shrunk by 14.1%. A new wave of protests sparked in late May, mainly in Santiago, due to food shortages and lack of support.

Background

On 12 January, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.
Unlike SARS of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

Timeline

March

using protective masks.

Daily report

The following table includes the data reported daily by the Ministry of Health, based on the information available at 21:00 the day before the report is released.
On 9 June 2020, the Ministry of Health announced a new process to count the number of fatalities, based on the data recorded by the Civil Registry and Identification Service the day before. That method was changed again on 17 July; from that day, the deaths were counted using the data from the Department of Statistics and Health Information of the Ministry of Health. Due to the process of detection of deaths, the daily reports included deaths from several days prior, creating a gap between the date of report and the official date of death.

Charts

Cases

The same graph in semi-log plot form:

Medical care situation

Distribution per region

Summary

RegionsConfirmed
cases		Cases per
100,000		Confirmed
PCR+ deaths		PCR+ deaths
per 100,000		All COVID-19
deaths		All deaths
per 100,000
Arica y Parinacota29353451
Tarapacá7407139155
Antofagasta12800271357
Atacama1747927
Coquimbo44764982
15405407682
24403968588595
9080164254
7626125282
31055287
Biobío Region913695225
Araucanía369771191
Los Ríos Region8221359
Los Lagos Region258630104
Aysén6915
Magallanes15902869
National total: 16 regions326520'8347'11227

Cases by day

Charts

For these charts, the regions of Chile has been grouped as:
The same graph in semi-log plot form:

Distribution per commune

Summary

Government response

  1. 14-day isolation for any member of an educational community who has a direct relative with confirmed contagion.
  2. Suspension of classes for 14 days of the complete course when a student has confirmed contagion.
  3. Suspension of classes for 14 days from the complete educational establishment in the case of two or more cases of students with confirmed contagion. These measures may be modified or extended to specific territories, such as communes and regions, as necessary.
On 2 March 2020, The CRU World Copper Conference in Santiago, the largest annual gathering of copper miners in the world, which was scheduled between 23 and 27 March 2020, was cancelled due to concerns over travel risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
Large scale events such as Lollapalooza Chile and the XXI International Air and Space Fair, were preventively suspended.
The Chilean government initially stated that the 26 April National Plebiscite would be held under sanitary safeguard measures. However, on 19 March 2020, Chilean lawmakers reached an agreement to postpone the referendum on a new constitution until late October as safety concerns around the coronavirus pandemic take precedence over politics. The referendum, originally slated for 26 April 2020 was rescheduled for 25 October 2020, following formal approval by a two-thirds vote of congress on 24 March.

Notable cases and fatalities