By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

On March 10, 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Bolivia, days later the Jeanine Áñez regime established a rigid quarantine followed by improvised measures, unlike the Plan Strategy for the Fight against COVID-19 implemented by the Government of President Luis Arce Catacora based on three pillars: early diagnosis, coordination at all levels and mass vaccination.

“The first wave was characterized by a single strategy: rigid quarantine, which, although it may have had an effect on the health system, negatively affected the economy of the country and that of the Bolivian people, since it is seen that a large part of our population percentage is dedicated to informality, ”said the Minister of Health and Sports, Jeyson Auza Pinto, in an assessment of the pandemic in Bolivia.

He indicated that in the first wave a total of 144,000 cases were registered, versus this second wave in which 110,000 cases were reported.

 “We must analyze that this second wave has now had a higher rate of contagion, much higher than the first wave,” he said.

Likewise, he explained that 8,949 deaths were registered in the first wave; while in the second 2,896 deaths were reported.

“And this difference is fundamental because the fatality rate has been much lower in this second wave, three times lower, because the fatality rate in the first wave was 6.2 and the fatality rate in this second wave that we are exceeding is 2.6, informed Minister Auza Pinto.

In this framework, Auza Pinto highlighted that in the second wave a Strategic Plan to Fight COVID-19 was applied based on three pillars: free and accessible diagnosis, close coordination with subnational governments and the vaccination process.

In that direction, the Minister of Health asserted that the country is in a process of de-escalation of cases, without the application of rigid quarantine.

Now health officials are asking the public to prepare for a third wave.

The Minister of Health and Sports, Jeyson Auza Pinto called on Bolivians to prepare to face a third wave of the pandemic; in addition to maintaining biosecurity measures as a way of protection.

 “In a short time we are achieving a de-escalation of cases of the second wave (…), but this does not have to give us false optimism, we have to prepare for a third wave,” said the authority in contact with national television media.

He stressed that the country cannot “refuse” before the possibility of a new outbreak of the disease because it is a threat that remains latent despite the fact that the Government has been promoting the vaccination process for more than a month.

“We cannot make the mistakes (of the past) of improvising at the last moment, we must prepare from today and that is why we are making such an impact on vaccination (…) and I take the opportunity to tell the Bolivian population that despite that we are in a frank de-escalation of cases, it is the moment when we should least let our guard down ”, stressed Minister Auza.

The government authority reiterated that it is the moment in which biosecurity measures must continue to be extreme, such as the use of a chinstrap, social distancing, the use of alcohol in the disinfection of surfaces and constant hand washing.