By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews 

The Bolivia Ministry of Health reported today 249 new infections of the COVID-19 virus in the country, the majority in the department of Santa Cruz, bringing the accumulated total of infected people to 3,826.

The new infections correspond to the departments of Santa Cruz (221), Cochabamba (18), La Paz (5), Beni (3), Chuquisaca (1) and Oruro (1).

With these data, the accumulated total of coronavirus infections by department keeps Santa Cruz up with 2,518, Beni 551, La Paz 333, Cochabamba 214, Oruro 133, Potosí 36, Chuquisaca 16, Pando 12 and Tarija 13.

The Ministry of Health also reported the death of one person in Santa Cruz, making a cumulative 165 deaths from coronavirus nationwide.

On Saturday, authorities in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz confirmed an “epidemiological outbreak” of COVID-19 in the Palmasola prison, the largest in the country, after 25 inmates tested positive and confirmed that two deceased inmates also had the disease  last week.

Aedes aegypti mosquito

The government secretary of the Santa Cruz Governorate, Vladimir Peña, explained to the media that 45 inmates suspected of having the disease were sampled, testing positive for 25, and it was also confirmed that two inmates who died a few days ago had COVID-19. According to Peña, 22 patients remain isolated from the rest of the population within the same prison.

“By having an epidemiological outbreak within the Palmasola prison, some measures have been activated,” including the installation of two care centers within the same prison, one for suspected cases and the other for confirmed cases, he said. It is planned to have a hundred beds in these centers to serve infected prisoners.