Source:
http://spanish.people.com.cn/n3/2020/0331/c31617-9674444.html
Uruguay totals 320 cases of COVID-19 that already has "community circulation"
Xinhua 2020: 03: 31.11: 00
MONTEVIDEO, March 30 (Xinhua) - Uruguay added 10 new cases of COVID-19 today and has totaled 320 cases - with a deceased patient - of the new coronavirus that already has "community circulation" since March 13, according to the Minister of Health Public, Daniel Salinas.
In addition, the government announced that there are 25 patients cured and announced, together with representatives of the private technology sector, that telemedicine will be used to guide and refer infected people.
COVID-19 "is evolving according to expectations, but we need contraction to the rules (due to the health emergency)," Salinas said tonight at the Executive Tower, the government headquarters.
"90 percent of the cases are concentrated in the metropolitan area (departments of Montevideo and Canelones, which concentrate more than half of the population), which is why we consider that the situation is under control," he said.
"There is evidence to suggest the circulation of the virus in the population. Confirmation of the notion of contact with a COVID-19 patient or coming from abroad is no longer needed," he explained.
For the official, "there is a transmission within society", although it is "very low, because there are very few cases."
Of the total number of patients, 11 are hospitalized in intensive care and one in intermediate care.
This "does nothing but increase citizen effort and commitment to stay at home, (and) move as little as possible," explained the secretary of the Presidency, ?lvaro Delgado.
The businessman Nicol?s Jodal, founder of ARTech and creator of the multiplatform Genexus, reported at the press conference that a new version of the Coronavirus Uy mobile application will be available starting this Tuesday, which was already targeting symptoms of the disease and was downloaded for 200 thousand people.
In a new stage, the application will enable telemedicine tools and if the health care provider who attends the user authorizes it, they can make a video call with a doctor.
"This has enormous advantages: that the same doctor cares for many people, and that health personnel are not in direct contact with the possible infected," he said.
Jodal also announced that "the self-test" will be implemented, a system used in South Korea, which implies that a person passes in his car through a station and "without getting off the vehicle, he will take a shot", which then leads to laboratory.
"The test is only for those to whom the doctors have indicated it. This allows to have a lot of speed and a much more important intake. It also increases biosecurity," he said.
Salinas pointed out that 299 analyzes were carried out today and there will be an increase in diagnostic capacity and that this week "we think that we will be in the environment of 800 to 900 tests per day."
Since the confirmation of the first cases in the country, 3,425 analyzes have been carried out, of which 9 percent were positive.
The departments with confirmed cases are: Montevideo, Canelones (south), Colonia (west), Flores (south), Maldonado (east), Rocha (east), Salto (northwest) and Soriano (west).
A 71-year-old man who was admitted several days ago in an intensive care ward in Montevideo was the first person to die on Saturday of COVID-19.
President Luis Lacalle Pou declared on March 13 the "health emergency", decreed the prohibition of public shows, the suspension of teaching classes and the closure of large shopping centers.
The government called for "social isolation", especially for those over 65 for whom a sickness allowance was enabled, and ordered the borders to be closed.
In response to the pandemic, the government announced the creation of the Coronavirus Fund to meet health and social needs, and which will be nourished by contributions of cuts in high state wages, profits from public companies and loans from multilateral credit organizations.
