For the second consecutive month, Peru suffered in April its deadliest month of the entire covid-19 pandemic, which raised the balance to 61,789 deaths cwith the coronavirus as a confirmed cause.
If March had already ended as the most disastrous month, surpassing 5,267 confirmed deaths from the disease, April recorded almost double with 9,458, according to government reports, which only count symptomatic cases with a positive test for the virus that resulted in death.
It was precisely in April when the shortage of medical oxygen had the greatest impact, whose demand tripled, and especially beds in intensive care units (ICU) for the most serious cases.
Sounded was the case of Hospital II de Talara, in the northern region of Piura, where a dozen people died after running out of oxygen.
These conditions, together with the almost normal life on the streets except for the night curfew, caused Peru to record records of both new daily infections and deaths in a single day in April.
On the outskirts of Lima, the burial of a coronavirus victim. AP Photo
On April 15, 13,326 new infections were reported, the highest daily figure of the entire pandemic, and five days before, on the eve of the general elections, there were 384 dead, also the maximum value reached so far since the start of the health emergency.
The numbers
However, the official figures are far from reflecting the effects of the pandemic, as the Government has already admitted that the death toll they may be much higher than those reported so far.
This is shown by the data from the National Information System of Deaths (Sinadef) of the Ministry of Health, which has become the best reference tool for measuring the evolution of the pandemic in Peru.
On that platform, which records both confirmed and suspected cases, April was also the deadliest month, with more than 25,000 deaths attributable to the pandemic, higher than the 22,000 deaths in March.
Accumulated deaths in this registry amount to 172,000 in the 14 months of the pandemic, 150% more than the 69,000 estimated that there were in the 20 years of internal armed conflict (1980-2000) caused by the subversive and terrorist organizations Sendero Luminoso and Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA).
Precisely to investigate the great differences between the figures of the official reports of COVID-19 and those of Sinadef, the Peruvian Government has convened a group of experts from different disciplines to investigate the methodology with which deaths are being recorded.
This group has been commissioned ad honorem with a report with a series of recommendations that must be presented on May 31.
Faced with the dire numbers, optimism is deposited in the decline in daily deaths that is being reported in the last week and a half, which would indicate that the second wave is finally beginning its descent in the country.
In Comas, on the outskirts of Lima. AP Photo
Unlike other more developed countries, where the waves of infections and deaths are more ephemeral, in Peru they are almost tsunamis.
The first wave spanned five months, from April to August, while this second wave already has five months as well, since it began at the end of December 2020, driven by the Brazilian variant of covid-19, which has been especially deadly in people from middle age.
Vaccines
As a positive point for Peru there is also that, at the same time that it closed its most fatal month of the pandemic, it reached its first million vaccinated, more than half of them with the second dose, evidence that the vaccination process has accelerated in recent days among the elderly population.
The effect of vaccines has also lowered mortality in the elderly, doctors, police and military, the priority groups in the first phase of vaccination.
In doctors, a union that adds 450 deaths from coronavirus, Vaccines have caused deaths to plummet after the second dose, according to research physician Percy Mayta-Tristán on data from the Peruvian Medical College.
In those over 75 years of age in Lima, where the vaccination process is more widespread, mortality fell by 20%, according to Open Covid, a group of experts that analyzes data on the evolution of the pandemic.
EFE Agency
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source https://pledgetimes.com/peru-once-again-breaks-its-record-of-deaths-from-coronavirus-with-more-than-9400-in-just-one-month/
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