The Ministry of Health confirmed 20,503 new cases of Covid-19 in Chile, with a positivity rate of 19.91% in the last 24 hours nationwide, with 91,666 exams, PCR and antigen tests.
The variation of new confirmed cases at the national level is -22% and -28% for the comparison of seven and 14 days, respectively. Meanwhile, all regions have decreased their cases in the last week and 15 in the last two weeks.
“A constant decrease in new daily cases is maintained at the national level, a situation that we have been showing for three weeks. Today, Saturday, March 5, we have a difference of 7,236 fewer daily cases than 7 days ago and 13,266 fewer cases in the comparison to 14 days,” explained the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris.
“With the 88,933 active cases today, there are already 5 consecutive days in which this value is less than 100,000 active cases,” he added.
It is worth mentioning that of the 20,503 new cases, 34% are diagnosed by antigen test, 41% are caused by Active Case Search (BAC) and 19% of those reported are asymptomatic. As for the Metropolitan Region, it presents 27% due to antigen, 37% due to BAC and 14% of the notified cases are asymptomatic.
“The positivity of the exams at the national level also shows a significant difference compared to the same day of the previous week. If last Saturday this indicator stood at 24.8%, this day it decreases to 19.9%” , added the head of Health.
According to sample collection, the regions with the highest positivity in the last week are Ñuble, Los Ríos, Biobío and O’Higgins.
Meanwhile, the Los Ríos region has the highest current incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Maule, Biobío and Ñuble regions.
According to today’s report, of the 20,503 new cases of Covid-19, 11,882 correspond to symptomatic people and 2,847 have no symptoms. In addition, 5,774 Positive PCR tests were registered that were not notified.
The total number of people who have been diagnosed with the virus in the country reaches 3,168,335. Of that total, 88,933 patients are in the active stage. The recovered cases are 3,028,599.
Regarding deaths, according to the information provided by the DEIS, in the last 24 hours there were 146 deaths from causes associated with the coronavirus. The total number of deaths amounts to 42,955 in the country.
To date, 1,061 people are hospitalized in Intensive Care Units, of which 882 are supported by mechanical ventilation. In relation to the Integrated Health Network, there are a total of 209 critical beds available for the patient who requires it, regardless of the region where they are located.
Regarding the Laboratory Network and diagnostic capacity, the results of 91,666 PCR tests and antigen tests were reported yesterday, reaching a total of 33,428,088 analyzed nationwide to date. The positivity for the last 24 hours at the country level is 19.91% and in the Metropolitan Region it is 14.33%.
In the Sanitary Residences there are 41 accommodation facilities, with a total of 4,105 beds. The actual occupation at the national level is 50%, leaving a total of 1,633 beds available for use.
