San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Honduras has regressed considerably in its fight against coronavirus in the first month of 2021.
Just two months after the pandemic entered the country, the number of infected, far from declining, increased in the first days of January, according to reports from the National Risk Management System (Sinager).
When comparing the number of infected people who were registered in Honduras in July 2020 (the month with the highest incidence of infections) with January 2021, it is possible to show the pits the attenuation of the deadly virus has fallen.
According to reports as of January 27, there were a total of 19,270 new people infected with coronavirus in Honduras, while 22,457 were registered in July, just 3,187 different patients.
In addition, compared to the average number of covid patients in Honduras in the last 10 months, January has already exceeded this number by almost 35%, according to official records.
Experts believe that this statistic will increase if Hondurans continue to relax with biosecurity measures and the authorities do not make the right determinations when about to reach an “epidemiological tragedy” soon.
With that in mind, the arrival of the vaccine before the first half of 2021 could be very late, they say.
Failed mitigation
For Honduran scientist Marco Tulio Medina, mitigation measures to eradicate the virus have not been enough, in addition to other factors such as the relaxation of the population on holiday and the floods caused by Hurricanes Eta and Iota in particular. in northern Honduras.
“In Asian countries, they worked to eliminate the virus, not to attenuate it, and it did better results than in Europe and America that several attempts have been made to attack the virus already when it is acquired, this has generated a recurrence due to the events at the end of the year “, the doctor analyzed.
In terms of deaths, the number of deaths in January has already exceeded the average number of deaths during the year 10 months of pandemic with 5%, approx. So far they are registered over 328 coronavirus deaths, when the monthly average was close to 300.
Only in the week of January 24-27, impact deaths of at least three Honduran doctors and nurses, a Sampedrano artist and former world football champion, were reported.
“Cases should be monitored and there should be isolation so that the virus does not continue to spread in the country and lead to more infections and deaths,” Medina recommended.
In his turn, the Deputy Minister of Health, Roberto Cosenza, considers that the comparison of the two months is not correct due to the different moments that are lived, but he added another phenomenon that worsens the contagion this year.
“The pandemic started in July 2020”, while in the January 2021 figures “we still receive those infected by storms and also the December holidays where they infected whole families, “the doctor said.
To all the above factors, Cosenza adds the political activities that have already left more cases of infection in the first four weeks of 2021.
“Compared to previous months, we have not yet exceeded the maximum peak, we will see how the cases are in February. The success is in the biosecurity measures”, said the official.
Unusual appearance
At the Central American level, Honduras it is the third country with the most infections confirmed in the first month of 2021, just below Panama with over 60,000 infected and Costa Rica with over 20,000.
However, doctors in public hospitals in the country say that the number of infected will increase considerably in the coming weeks.
“There are about 10,000 cases that are not considered with real-time PCR tests, but with antigenic tests whose rate, along with immunological ones, were almost double that of July,” says Dr. Carlos Umaña, president. Association of Physicians of Honduran Institute of Social Security (IHSS) in San Pedro Sula.
“We are sure that January was more serious in infections than July 2020, because we have been saturated for two weeks with public hospitals and the social security hospital, which is not we lived in this pandemic, “he said.
Umaña considers Honduras to be about an “epidemiological tragedy.”
Another alarming situation that the doctor points out is that the virus is no longer preferred by the elderly in Honduras.
“Over 50% of those admitted of covid in social security are people under 45 and attack a vulnerable population what are pregnant women in the third trimester and are less than 30 years old. This new strain treats young people badly, contaminates them and causes more severe symptoms such as pneumonia than goes from 5, 20 to 40% “.
Remedy
In addition to relaxing the population, Honduran doctors believe that the Honduras Multisectoral Table “did not want to control people’s mobility” and therefore the contagion increased.
“The Medical College of Honduras (CMH) has requested this (regulated traffic) because the virus travels with humans. The contagion curve will never stop just because people are told to wear a mask, people are irresponsible and in need of coercive measures, so it has been in almost every part of the world, “said IHSS vice president of doctors in San Pedro Sula.
“Doctors anticipate many deaths at home, people dying in addition to triage and mortality in hospitals. CMH requires 21 days of quarantine and conditional circulation, but you can start with the Sula Valley, not the whole country exactly,” Hill said.
Currently, there are about 145,000 people infected with covid in Honduras since the beginning of the pandemic and about 3,600 people have died. 60,735 recovered and defeated the virus.
Hondurans are holding on to the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine, which is expected in March this year.
According to the authorities in Extended Immunization Program (EPI), 5.7 million Hondurans are eligible to receive it.
The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández assured this week that the first to be vaccinated in the country will be the doctors and nurses from the front line in public hospitals and that they will be free.