TODAY NICARAGUA – The Observatorio Ciudadano (Citizen Observatory) report revealed this Friday, May 7, 878 new suspected cases of infection with the virus and 74 new associated deaths for the week of April 29 to May 5.
“This week we received reports of 878 new suspected cases from 12 departments (Managua, Jinotega, Rivas, Matagalpa, Masaya, Granada, Boaco, Río San Juan, Chinandega, León, Carazo and Madriz) and the two Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast, RACCN and RACCS.
“We also received reports of 74 new deaths associated to or with presumptive symptoms of Covid-19. These deaths are reported from nine departments (Jinotega, Managua, Granada, Masaya, Rivas, Carazo, León, Madriz and Matagalpa) and the two Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast, RACCN and RACCS,” the Observatorio said in its report.
According to the report, 45 new infections occurred among health personnel, with two possible deaths from the virus.
Since the first positive case was reported in the country, in March 2020, the Observatorio has recorded a total of 1,004 health workers with symptoms associated with Covid-19 and 125 deaths.
“The period from April 29 to May 5, 2021, is the period with the third-highest daily average of weekly suspicious case reports, only below two weeks in June and July 2020. This trend can only be stopped if we comply with protection measures to preserve health and life,” said the report.
These figures are released after independent doctors have reported a significant increase in online consultations of people with symptoms of Covid-19, an increase in hospitalizations in public and private hospitals, and funeral homes.
This week, the Ministry of Health (Minsa) also recognized an increase of 44% in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country.
According to Minsa’s report, in the week from April 27 to May 4, 91 positive cases of the disease were registered, 28 cases more than the previous week when it registered 63 new cases.
Separately, a representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) also stated that there is a rebound in the virus in Nicaragua.
In the previous period, from April 22 to 28, the Observatorio reported 364 new suspected cases of Covid-19 and 46 deaths that could be associated. The figures were positioned as the highest with respect to the previous weeks that comprise the 2021 calendar.
A week earlier, between April 15 and 21, the number of cases detected was 113 and 10 attributable deaths; While from 8 to 14 of the same month there were 214 cases and seven deaths.
The official report by Minsa says there have been a total of only 6,989 infections and 183 deaths in a population of 6.69 million.
Slow vaccination
The Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee (CCM) confirms that the vaccination program in Nicaragua progresses slowly.
“What do we have in synthesis with vaccination? As of May 31, we will have 0.3% of the population with two doses. They are the only protected people, the 3,000 people who were applied Sputnik V in the program. At the end of May we will have 32 % of those over 55 years of age and people with chronic diseases with a first dose (…) We have a very high lag in vaccination, it is extremely slow,” said Dr. Carlos Hernández, a member of the CCM.
He stressed that in part it has to do with obtaining the vaccines from the manufcaturers, but also the time in which the acquisitions were managed because despite being a poor country, Nicaragua has obtained financing from banks to buy them.
The Minsa began vaccination against Covid-19 on March 2, 2021. The program with the Sputnik V, of Russian manufacture, stood out; and continued with the Covishield, made in India.
Vaccination began in Managua and little by little it spread to the rest of the departments and the autonomous regions.
Hernández clarified that it is necessary to achieve that between 70% and 80 % of Nicaraguans are vaccinated to have control of the pandemic, a percentage that the country is far from achieving.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
