COVID-19 pandemic in Chile

COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
Map with confirmed cases and deaths by region as of 20 February 2023.
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Chile
Index case	San Javier, Maule Region
Arrival date	3 March 2020 (4 years, 8 months and 1 week)
Confirmed cases	5,239,884[1] ll
Hospitalized cases	1,435[1]
Ventilator cases	1,734[1]
Recovered	5,166,996[1][a]
Deaths	52,056 (PCR+)[1] 64,416 (all cases)[b]
Fatality rate	1.19%
Government website
Cifras Oficiales

The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) severely affected Chile. The virus was confirmed to have reached Chile on 3 March 2020.^[5] Initial cases had been imported from Southeast Asia and Europe, and expanded into a large number of untraceable infections, placing the country within phase 4 of the pandemic as defined by the World Health Organization, with over 1,000 confirmed cases by 25 March 2020.

The cases are concentrated in the Santiago metropolitan area, with outbreaks in other regions in the country. No national lockdown was established in Chile, unlike in neighboring Argentina and Peru, although a night curfew was implemented throughout the country. Quarantines were established locally in different cities and neighborhoods. However, in May 2020 the whole city of Santiago was put under mandatory quarantine due to an increase of cases, and similar situations were extended to most of the largest cities in Chile.

Considering its population, by June 2020 Chile had one of the worst outbreaks in the world.^[6] Initially, the number of fatalities reported was lower than in other countries in South America, even those with fewer cases. However, in May 2020, the number of cases and deaths increased rapidly, while several sources reported excess deaths not officially attributed to covid, which were not counted.^[7][8] By June 2020, the government confirmed thousands of additional deaths due to COVID-19, including suspected cases where PCR tests were not available.^[9] The pandemic reached a peak on 13 June with 195 daily confirmed deaths and nearly 7,000 positive cases.^[1] By July 2020, 10,000 people had died, and Chile had the sixth largest number of cases in the world.^[10][11] In the following weeks, the number of daily cases and deaths started to decrease slowly, although some local outbreaks appeared. The number of cases increased later in the year, and by March 2021 the number of daily cases exceeded those in the initial wave.^[12]

Chile became one of the first countries to start a nationwide program to vaccinate against COVID-19. On 24 December 2020, the first batch of vaccines arrived in the country to inoculate mainly health workers.^[13] With larger batches of vaccines (mainly Sinovac's CoronaVac) arriving from February 2021, Chile became one of the fastest countries in the world to inoculate their population: by March 2021 a quarter of the population had received at least one dose. This fast response was due to signing contracts with multiple providers, a strong public immunization program, and little anti-vaccine sentiment.^[14] Despite the success of the vaccination program the number of cases increased, which has been attributed to early relaxation of restrictions and a false sense of security.^[15][16][17]

With more than 92,000 cases and 2,500 deaths per million inhabitants,^[1] the impact of the pandemic has been great in the South American country. In March 2020, when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, the country was still facing protests and riots^[c] that had begun in October 2019, and the pandemic affected the scheduled 2020 Chilean constitutional referendum, which was rescheduled and held later in the year. Partial lockdowns and quarantines were established in the first months, hitting the economy of the country. By April 2020, unemployment had reached 9%, a ten-year high.^[19][20] A wave of protests sparked in late May, mainly in Santiago, due to food shortages in certain sectors of the population.^[21] The Chilean GDP shrank by a 5.8% in 2020, the largest recession in 40 years in the country.^[22] Chile is the only country in the world with entry procedures such as requiring homologation of vaccines to travel to.^[23]

On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which first came to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.^[24][25]

The case fatality rate for COVID-19 was much lower than that due to the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, which was due to another coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1,^[26][27] but the transmittability was significantly greater, leading to many deaths due to the large number of cases.^[28][26]

Cases

Deaths