Lima, May 22 (EFE). – Peru’s Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte, warned this Saturday of the risk of a third wave of COVID-19 infections in the Andean country, which urged residents not to take precautions. Despite the fact that so far a decrease in injuries and deaths has been reported in the middle of the second wave.

Ugarte said in statements to the press: “There is a danger from the third wave, that depends on ourselves, that we continue to take the same precautionary measures and that we are all cooperating in this great vaccination campaign.”

The head of the health file indicated that the possibility of going through a new epidemic episode will be subject to the measures taken by the government and the commitment of the citizen to comply with the established preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus.

He stressed that “we must not lower our caution, although cases and even deaths are decreasing. It may decrease, with the fall of the first wave, but with an unprotected population and viruses, it is certain that there will be a new wave.”

Vaccination campaign

Ugarte added that the executive is “working against this possibility” while advancing the national vaccination plan against COVID-19.

In this sense, he indicated that for there to be complete protection against the disease, a country must have between 75% and 80% of the vaccinated population, and the percentages are still very far from the current figures for vaccination.

To date, Peru has managed just over 3 million doses to about 2.12 million citizens – 6.5% of its population – including the elderly, health workers, the military, police and firefighters.

The second wave down

The second wave of COVID-19 infections began in the South American country in January and accelerated its growth in February, when authorities warned against entering the Brazilian alternative.

The virus attack was worse in April, when Peru experienced the deadliest month of the epidemic since its arrival in March 2020.

However, the latest official figures now confirm a decrease in the daily number of infections and deaths due to the disease, which has already left more than 1.9 million symptoms with confirmed symptoms in the country and nearly 67,700 deaths. EFE

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