Monthly Archives: August 2020

Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 143

Posted on by Posted in Coronavirus, Cusco, Peru, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

There’s a chance that Cusco will return to a full quarantine starting on August 10. The request is being made to the Council of Ministers, but this is where it gets a little unclear.

At the moment, there is no Council of Ministers since Congress did not give the Prime Minister and the previous Council a vote of approval yesterday. Once the Prime Minister resign, President Vizcarra has 72 hours to appoint a new Prime Minister and a new cabinet. (I’m not sure that the outgoing Prime Minister has officially resigned yet as is immediately required, but he has given no indication that he won’t.)

A great deal of Congress’ disapproval with the previous cabinet was the perceived lack of focus on public health issues over business concerns. How that will influence any decision of the new Council in regards to the request of the Cusco authorities is uncertain.

Read below to see what they are proposing as well as the latest new on the drastic increase in COVID cases reported for Monday.

As always, I’ll be watching closely and will report ASAP.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

Cusco to Return to Full Quarantine?

Cusco’s regional government and the regional COVID-19 Command are requesting that Peru’s Council of Ministers return Cusco to a full quarantine for 14 days starting on August 10 in response to the rapid increase in COVID infections.

They are proposing:

  • Control measures will be strengthened in interprovincial, urban transport and in the markets and supermarkets of the city.
  • Markets will operate from 6 am to 2 pm.
  • Urban transport will be reduced to 50 % capacity but all units of all companies will circulate to avoid crowds in whereabouts.
  • Restaurants will only use delivery.
  • More intermediate care beds will be implemented.
  • The quick response of district health establishments will be strengthened and medication kits for Covid-19 will be delivered for detected cases that are mild and that keep quarantine at home.
  • Accamana hospital will be enabled to transfer patients in the last stage of contagion to relieve the city’s hospitals.
  • Many business that had reopened will have to close to 14 days.

Daily COVID Update from Minsa

The Ministry of Health last night reported 6,790 new cases of COVID-19 and 196 more COVID-related deaths.

The positivity rate remained a terribly high 30.4%.

There are 13,798 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1418 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation.

So far 302,457 people have completed their period of home isolation or were discharged from a health facility.

As before, Minsa has not reported any regional data in quite awhile.

COVID in Cusco

Cusco’s Regional Health Directorate released staggering numbers this morning as they reported 1,096 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. The number of newly reported deaths (12) was relatively low compared to previous days.

While the testing rose dramatically to the highest level yet reported during the pandemic, the positivity rate also rose for the third day in a row to 20.9%.

There still remains only one available ICU bed in the region.

Cusco Receiving Oxygen; Lacks Oxygen Bottles

Yesterday the regional governor of Cusco, Jean Paul Benavente Garcia, met with representatives of the Cachimayo company, in order to inspect the facilities of the medical oxygen plant, which is authorized to provide 120 to 150 balloons per day, equivalent to 1000 cubic meters per day.

“In a joint effort since July 21, Cusco has been provided with an average of 4,000 cubic meters of medical oxygen. That’s the equivalent of more than 500 bottles,” Benavente explained.

Also present at the inspection were the director of the Regional Health Directorate (Diresa), Dario Navarro, and the president of COVID-19 Command, Victor Del Carpio.

Benavente added that for the supply of medical oxygen to public and private hospitals, there must be previous coordination with Diresa. “There must be a management of the distribution of bottles for all citizens. The private company has protocols and if we respect them we will be able to have more capacity in the delivery. We have to do a more effective job,” he said.

Diresa’s director, Dario Navarro, recommended that the population “not” attend the Cachimayo plant to acquire oxygen, because it is distributed through the hospitals and clinics.

Navarro was emphatic in pointing out that Cusco does have oxygen, but the lack of availability is due to the shortage of this oxygen bottles. “We ask the people to join the ‘Breathe Cusco’ campaign by donating bottles or cash to buy the necessary bottles,” he said.

Officials and prosecutors are currently trying to retrieve bottles that were provided to the sick in their homes, but which are not being returned. Some are even being reportedly offered for sale on social media.

Minsa Figures for Cusco Far Lower Than Local Reports

La República interviewed Dr. Miguel Palacios Celi, dean of the Peruvian Medical Association, who said that this gap is a constant in the interior of the country, whose reality reveals “generally twice as many” cases as the Ministry of Health.

According to him, the Minsa is not taking into account the serological tests carried out in the regions, because they have not been bought by the central government, but by the regional governments.

Thus, there would be three types of tests, two of which would not be registered in the Minsa Situation Room. On the one hand, the official figure of the Ministry of Health; on the other hand, the one presented by the Diresa and, finally, the “hidden tests”, applied by the population in a private way, either through clinics that offer them or by their own acquisition.

However, Dr. Javier Ramirez, deputy regional director of health in Cusco, explained to La República that “all the tests are provided by the Minsa,” and said that the Diresa has no supply problems in terms of rapid tests or molecular tests.

For Ramirez, the reason for the gap is a deficiency in updating the systems. He explained that the Regional Health Directorate reports daily the number of tests performed, whether rapid or molecular, as well as their results, to the government’s NotiWeb and SISCOVID systems.

“Each health facility has an entry code and feeds the system. What is published about us is what happens daily,” he said. However, the official figures do not demonstrate the reality that they report, which is why Diresa Cusco has presented its claims to the Ministry of Health.

La República contacted Alcedo Jorges Melgarejo, former technical coordinator of the Ministry of Health and current Regional Director of Health in Pasco. Jorges confirmed that the tests are provided by the State and by public and private companies, and that all are screened by the Diresa, so it is not related to the gap.

He also said that there cannot be a deficiency in updating the system, since this is done online and in real time. “Now we load a case into the system, and it is immediately seen throughout the country,” he added. However, he clarified that the explanation the Ministry of Health has for the gap refers to the type of result given by the screening tests.

“When you take the screening, you can get IgM positive, the combination of IgM and IgG positive, or just IgG positive. He explained that, in the first case, the test detects the active phase of the disease, that is, the person was infected a little over a week ago. In the case of positive IgM and IgG, it means that the person is in the second or third week of infection. However, the positive IgG result shows that the patient had the disease more than three weeks ago, so that he or she is no longer contagious.

For statistical purposes, continued Alcedo Jorges, the regions aggregate all results into the system. However, “the Minsa does not load the cases that are only IgG positive,” since they are infections that are not in the active phase.

In addition, he said that the health agency also does not report the results of “captive populations,” that is, the tests that are performed on workers in public institutions or private companies, “under the premise that it is in the context of economic recovery, and they measure the prevalence in the common population, transmission in the streets.

Finally, according to the last declarations of the Minister of Health, Pilar Mazzetti, “one can work in health when one has correct and complete figures”, and later she added: “There is a very important gap, in relation to this gap we have to act”.

Dean Miguel Palacios detailed the double importance of the Government presenting reliable figures on the coronavirus pandemic in Peru. First, “real data allows you to make real, reasonable proposals. And, on a second level, the truth allows the population to regain confidence in the State. “Now there is no trust because people think they are being lied to,” he said.

“We [the Peruvian Medical Association], who are making proposals for the pandemic, are interested in knowing the real data, because you cannot make proposals with false data, the proposal falls,” Dr. Palacios added. This point was also supported by representatives of the Regional Health Directorates of Cusco and Pasco.

“When you see the [former] premier who says there’s a ‘small outbreak’, he’s reading I don’t know what data, because even the Minsa is worried about the promotion,” said the dean of the Medical Association, emphasizing the misjudgment that people in charge of health policy planning could have.

Palacios Celi questioned the effectiveness of the targeted quarantines, noting that the institution is about to ask the central government to resume a general quarantine for 15 days, with a mechanism similar to that of a national census.

The purpose would be “to lock up the entire population and activate teams that go house to house doing the tests – molecular, of preference – to diagnose the positive cases, immediately treat them, isolate them and have a behavior in front of their contacts,” he explained. In this way, “the transmissibility of the virus would be cut off.

Javier Ramírez, deputy director of Diresa Cusco, said that given the situation in the imperial region, the government had been asked to return to quarantine. However, after the approval of Supreme Decree 135, phase 3 of Reactiva Peru was maintained. This allows businesses to continue to operate and people to continue to circulate, so these would not be “effective measures”.

“In the end, the only thing that is helping us is the immobilization from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., which decreases the amount of movement of people, and on Sundays. But as we can see, the city in the other schedules from Monday to Saturday is constantly moving,” added Dr. Ramirez.

Minsa Distributes 51 tons of Supplies

Continuing with the actions taken by the Ministry of Health (Minsa) to confront Covid-19, the National Center for Strategic Health Resources (Cenares) sent more than 51 tons of medical supplies to Metropolitan Lima and 17 regions of the country on August 3.

The cargo transported by land included a total of 975,705 units of personal protective equipment (PPE), including N-95 type disposable masks, N-95 type nasal respirator, 95% filtering efficiency disposable masks, three-fold surgical disposable masks, jackets, aprons, pants, disposable masks, gloves, boots and disposable caps, polycarbonate protective glasses and polycarbonate masks.

In addition to the load, 25,000 rapid tests for Covid-19, 25,000 retractable disposable lancets, 277 medical kits consisting of adult and pediatric pulse oximeters, and 175,050 medicines, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, azithromycin, as well as products for injection, such as rocuronium bromide, dextrose, propofol, atropine sulfate, vancomycin, water for injection, vasopressin, and compound sodium lactate solution.

Medical supplies were delivered to these regions: Amazonas, Áncash, Apurímac, Cajamarca, Callao, Cusco, Huancavelica, Ica, Junín, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima Region, Pasco, Piura, Puno, Tacna and Ucayali.

In Metropolitan Lima, a total of 327,020 pieces of personal protection equipment and 7,830 medicines were sent to the Arzobispo Loayza National Hospital, San Juan de Lurigancho Hospital, Cayetano Heredia National Hospital and the Directorate of Integrated Health Networks – DIRIS Lima Centro, Lima Este and Lima Norte.

Nine New Care Center Established in Cusco

Nine fixed care centers for cases of COVID-19 are being implemented by the Regional Health Directorate (Diresa) of Cusco in this city and in the capital of the province of Quispiscanchis where the diagnosis, treatment and timely follow-up of patients will be carried out.

According to Diresa’s deputy director, Javier Ramírez, this will prevent people infected with the virus from reaching hospitals in a critical situation and often ending up dying.

This measure has provided for the mobilization of inputs, such as rapid and molecular tests: in addition to drugs such as ivermectin, azithromycin and others, to the first response health centers.

Ramírez indicated that at these points, screening will be done to differentiate between common colds, respiratory infections and COVID-19, diseases that have similar symptoms.

The health centers that will start with care for mild patients with COVID-19 are San Jerónimo, San Sebastián, Santa Rosa, Ttio, Belempampa, Manco Ccapac, Wanchaq, Urcos and the hospital in Tupac Amaru.

Misc News Highlights

  • Acción Popular congressman leaves open the possibility of asking for Martin Vizcarra’s resgination In an interview with RPP Noticias, Jesus Arapa said that this path would be a “sanction” if the government “continues to make a mistake in carrying out a policy…”

  • The Ayacucho region recorded the highest number of cases of coronavirus in one day. According to the official report of the Health Directorate, 275 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours, and in this same period of time eight people died from the disease.

  • The governor of the Cajamarca region, Mesías Guevara, announced told RPP Noticias that the first medical oxygen plant in the department will be inaugurated next weekend with the support of the Yanacocha mining company.

  • The medical staff of the Hospital II de EsSalud in Huánuco will be holding a sit-in this Wednesday. They denounce the lack of implementation of the ‘white hospital’ for COVID-19 patients in the region and demand the installation of 20 ICU beds, the sending of specialist doctors, personal protection equipment, medicines and medical oxygen bottles.

  • Health workers who care for COVID-19 patients demand payment of their wages. A group of 500 workers (nurses, nursing technicians, medical technologists, among others) claim that the Regional Government of Lambayeque owes them 4 to 5 months of their wages.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)


Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 142

Posted on by Posted in Coronavirus, Cusco, Peru Leave a comment

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Early this morning, Peru’s Congress voted against giving the current administration a vote of confidence — something that has not happened in 20 years according to President Vizcarra.

The vote is being widely denounced across the country as being political and creating unnecessary instability during a national crisis.

As of the time of posting today’s update, there have been no ministerial resignations so far, though only the Prime Minister is required by law to resign.

Things were only a little quieter today. It was quite a bit less frantic outside the hospitals and clinics and the Plaza de Armas area was extremely quiet.

The San Blas area neighborhood seemed particularly calm and relatively empty of activity as I passed through.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

Congress: No Vote of Confidence in the Administration

Pedro Cateriano

After a marathon 20-hour session, at 6:15 am this morning Peru’s Congress refused to give the current cabinet of Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano a vote of confidence by a vote of 54-37 with 34 abstentions.

According to President Vizcarra, this is the first time this has happened in 20 years.

FREPAP (13), Podemos Perú (11) and Frente Amplio (7) parties voted as a block against the vote of confidence in Cateriano, while Somos Perú (11) and the Partido Morado (9) voted together in favor. All 22 members of the Alliance for Progress (APP) abstained.

In the other parties, votes were divided, as in Acción Popular, which had four votes in favor, seven against and 12 abstentions. Fuerza Popular also had a mixed vote, with 12 congressmen in favor and two against.

Unión por el Perú (UPP) registered one vote in favor and 12 against, while the two non-associated congressmen voted against granting Cateriano a vote of confidence.

The Internal Regulations of Congress stipulate that if the Cabinet is denied a vote of confidence, it must immediately resign before the President who will have to accept its resignation and form a new ministerial team within 72 hours.

“If the Plenary denies its confidence to the Council of Ministers, the President of the Republic will accept the resignation of the President of the Council of Ministers and the other ministers, which must be done immediately“, reads Article 82.

Note that the only one who is required to resign is the Prime Minister so it is not clear who will actually resign. The new premier will propose to the President who he would like on his/her new council.

The Constitution requires that the new must request a vote of confidence from Congress within 30 days of the new cabinet taking office.

The Constitution of Peru also gives an account of this scenario, adding that, if Congress denies the confidence of two different Councils of Ministers, “the President of the Republic is empowered to dissolve Congress”, after which he would have to call elections for a new legislature.

However, Article 134 of the Constitution stipulates that Congress cannot be dissolved in the last year of its term which is the current situation.

“Once the Congress is dissolved, the Permanent Commission remains in office, which cannot be dissolved. There are no other forms of revocation of the parliamentary mandate. Under a state of siege, the Congress cannot be dissolved”, refers to the aforementioned article.

Cateriano had only served 18 days in his current position.

Francisco Sagasti, spokesman for the Purple Party, regretted that in Pedro Cateriano’s presentation he did not address issues such as science and the fight against violence against women.

“Two glaring absences: the subject of science technology and innovation (…) and the second point is violence against women which has increased during the pandemic,” he said.

“In the 45 pages of his speech he did not mention the word gender once. We women have been subsumed in a minimal part about criminality,” said Rocio Silva Santisteban, a congresswoman from the Frente Amplio.

Likewise, the spokeswoman of the Frepap party, María Céspedes, rebuked the president of the Council of Ministers for saying that Peru was a “blessed country for treasuring a large quantity of valuable minerals”.

“I would like you to ask those in the province who are in trouble today, like Espinar, if mining is a blessing. I know they would answer that mining is not a blessing, but that mining is a curse, and do you know why? Because where once they ran crystalline and fished for trout to eat, today there is contaminated water running,” she exclaimed.

Daily COVID Update from Minsa

Last night the Ministry of Health reported 6,790 new cases of COVID-19 along with 196 deaths. This brings the national total of COVID-related deaths to over 20,000.

The positivity rate of testing remained basically unchanged at a very high 30.4%.

There are 13,798 patients that have been hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1418 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation. So far 302,457 people completed their period of home isolation or were discharged from a health facility.

Minsa continues to not post individual regional reports as they did for months and has provided an explanation for this.

COVID in Cusco

The Regional Health Directorate reported 604 new cases of COVID-19 and 28 more deaths over the 48-hour period since the previously released report.

The total number of cases for the region topped 10,000 for the first time and the number of deaths has reached 265.

While the amount of testing over the previous 2 days remains low, the positivity rate was 18.5%.

GPC and The Tourism Industry

La Republica reports that an analysis by the Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana (GPC), highlights the serious effects of the pandemic on the tourism sector. The most affected area is the service sector. High-end businesses would have a greater opportunity to recover from the sector, unlike small businesses, 52% of which are informal.

“The impact is broad. Estimates of bankruptcies and job losses are not yet available. The crisis is expected to be irreversible. “The study we carried out also opens up a series of questions about the participation of the State and companies in order to get out of the bad moment,” says Epifanio Baca, a member of the GPC.

Due to the high rate of coronavirus infections in the country, the return of foreign visitors is expected to be delayed. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee the opening to local and national tourism with a re-engineering of costs, these must be sufficiently competitive to start again. “Large and small companies will have to establish reasonable prices for national and local consumers, for which there must be agreements with air and railroad lines that will encourage Peruvians to travel,” said the specialist.

As for the activation of health protocols, it must be guaranteed that they are rigorously complied with and credible. “We see that in Lima business has been reopened, but they are not strict. We must ensure that transportation, restaurants and lodging services establish credible protocols.

The GPC study also focuses on the disadvantage that small and informal businesses have in accessing credit to help restart their businesses as opposed to large ones. “We know that small businesses have less financial and technical capacity to make the adjustments to their services for times of pandemic and recovery,” he concluded.

Cable Car Access Coming to Choquequirao

[NOTE: With the early morning refusal by Congress to give the current administration a vote of confidence, all proposals are now under question.]

Yesterday one of the major projects that Peru’s Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano mentioned was cable car access to the remote ruins of Choquequirao.

The proposal is for a system of cable access from the south through Apurimac (section 1) and from the north through Cusco (section 2).

Cateriano said that this was a project widely expected by the people of Cusco in order to diversify their tourism offerings and put Choquequirao at the same level as Machu Picchu and go from 10 thousand to one million visitors per year.

The estimated investment amount is $260 million. The project will be presented by Proinversion in 2021 and awarded in 2022 and will be ready for use by the end of that year.

Edy Cuellar, vice president of the Association of Tourism Agencies of Cusco (AATC) and former director of Tourism of the Chamber of Commerce of Cusco, called the project one of the best plans in the area of economy and tourism.

Cuellar says that currently it takes an average of four days to reach the archaeological site of Choquequirao, and that due to a certain degree of difficulty and even risk, only experienced tourists in trekking or adventurers decide to travel to the place.

He says that if access to the ruins is made available through a more comfortable, fast and safe route, like a cable car, many more tourists would be encouraged to hire tour packages.

“Choquequirao will allow tourists to stay one more day in Cusco and Apurimac. In the first year could visit about 300 thousand and in the medium term up to one million visitors annually. Tourists will visit Choquequirao first and then connect to Machu Picchu, and also the other way around,” he said.

Cuellar mentions that a traffic of tourists could be generated from Nazca, passing by Abancay, Choquequirao, Santa Teresa, Machu Picchu and finally Cusco, increasing the time of stay of the visitors and therefore the investment in the different destinations.

US Repatriation Flight August 14

From the US Embassy yesterday:

Repatriation Flights: All repatriation flights are intended ​only for U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) to return to the United States from Peru.

U.S. citizens who wish to depart Peru should purchase a ticket NOW. DO NOT WAIT TO BE CONTACTED BY THE U.S. EMBASSY.

If you are not a U.S. citizen, you may be subject to additional questioning or denied boarding by Peruvian government authorities prior to exiting the country.

Visa and ESTA holders, including those accompanying U.S. citizens, should be prepared to provide supporting documentation to Peruvian Immigration ​confirming your emergency need to depart Peru.

International borders remain closed for the near future. If you remain in Peru, please continue to follow Peruvian government health and safety guidelines and quarantine restrictions.

The following repatriation flight is scheduled at this time: Solange Reps Tu Mayorista. Private tour operator Solange Reps is planning a flight from Lima to Miami (MIA) on Friday, August 14. The flight is open to U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs). Interested travelers should complete this form: https://solangereps.typeform.com/to/ppQuaFjt.

This is not a U.S. Embassy flight. For additional information, contact Solange Reps directly by calling or sending a WhatsApp message to +1-786-387-0000 or +51-952-396-417 or visiting their Facebook page: Solange Reps Tu Mayorista.

Misc News Highlights

  • In July, the Arequipa region saw 2,547 deaths — almost 4 times their monthly average before the coronavirus pandemic, of 577. This peak in deaths per month is the highest in the country, apart from the Lima region, according to the National Computerized System of Deaths (Sinadef).

  • The Crime Prevention Prosecutor’s Office of Cusco is going after people who have used and not return oxygen bottles despite formal requests. Some people have even reportedly tried to sell the bottles that were given to them. They report that 50 bottles have not been returned and are needed for people currently sick with COVID.

  • The Ministry of Health sent thirteen health professionals to Amazonas. The mission of this team is to reinforce the care provided to the population, especially those living in the Amazon communities and those from the most remote areas of the region. The delegation sent is made up of three medical professionals, six nursing graduates, two obstetricians and two specialists in the field of biology.

  • The Provincial Municipality of Arequipa approved the municipal ordinance for the bicycle road network. The first phase contemplates 41.6 km of route, in nine districts of the province. 127 km of bicycle lanes will be implemented, distributed by means of trunk and collector roads and two rings that will border the Historical Center and the peripheral areas. The network will extend 6 km from the center of the city. The first phase of the cycle path network will extend 41.6 kilometres and connect nine of the 15 districts located in the Arequipa metropolitan area. These are Paucarpata, Mariano Melgar, Miraflores, Cerro Colorado, Yanahuara, José Luis Bustamante y Rivero, Sachaca, Cayma and Cercado de Arequipa. The other districts will be incorporated progressively.

  • The regional governor of Huancavelica, Maciste Díaz Abad, has tested positive for COVID-19. He reported this on Facebook and says he is “calm and stable.”

  • More than 200 people participate in a soccer championship in Huánuco despite the health emergency. The detainees were fined for not complying with health standards. “This shows the lack of citizen collaboration to stop the advance of the virus, which has already claimed the lives of 350 Huanuqueños and 12,590 are infected,” said the regional prefect, Herly Cabrera Osorio.

  • A total of 164 nurses in Lambayeque were infected with COVID-19 so far during the health emergency, reported the dean of the college of nurses in Lambayeque, Viviana Santillan. Two nurses have died from COVID-19 and more than 50% of the professionals who contracted the disease have recovered and returned to work in the various hospitals and health centres.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)


Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 141

Posted on by Posted in Coronavirus, Cusco, Peru Leave a comment

Monday, August 3, 2020

Despite being the 3rd day of the re-imposition of a mandatory quarantine, things didn’t seem a lot different in Cusco when I went out today.

I walked to the grocery store about 8:30 this morning and it did seem a little slower. By the time I walked down Av de la Culture late in the morning it had picked up considerably.

There wasn’t a large police presence and I only saw 2 officers near a bus stop appear to check the documents of 2 people were just sitting in the shade. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no military presence at all as there had been daily during the first quarantine.

All the stores in the mall were open. The only difference was that the Don Belisario restaurant appeared to be closed with Starbucks and the Food Court open for take out only.

What did seem very different was the very large number of people outside the clinics and hospitals. I walked past the Clinica San Jose and the Clinica MacSalud on Av los Incas and was struck by the crowds waiting on the sidewalks outside as well as congregating near the clinic entrances.

I walk that way all the time because it affords good shade on hot, sunny days so I’ve seen what it’s normally like during the pandemic. This was not usual.

People were extremely somber and quiet. Many were lined up waiting to get in. It seemed as if many were family members waiting to hear about relatives inside. It was a difficult walk through and a reminder than COVID is very real in Cusco now.

It’s really upsetting that the Regional Health Directorate of Cusco did not make any kind of report today. After being placed back under quarantine again because of the rapid rise in infections, you’d think they would be as transparent as possible in providing up-to-minute information to the 1.2 million people who live in the region.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

Peru Prioritizing Acquisition of COVID Vaccine

Foreign Minister Mario López Chávarri reported that Peru is negotiating with five laboratories to obtain the vaccine against COVID-19.

“We have negotiations with five laboratories and we really have preliminary agreements of confidentiality with some of them,” he said during an interview with the Sunday program Cuarto Poder.

The foreign minister estimated that “between August and September we are going to have good results in the agreements with the laboratories”. He also said that there is the possibility of offering volunteers, since the country “is an attractive country” for research centers working on a vaccine against COVID-19.

“Laboratories want to conduct these tests in countries that have a multi-ethnic capacity in their population with a significant number of COVID-19 cases and geographic diversity,” the foreign minister said.

Chávarri said the administration is developing all possible mechanisms, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to have rapid access to the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

“We are developing a scheme with friendly governments, with laboratories, international organizations and other actors that are developing these schemes,” he added.

Police Checkpoint Between Cusco and Pisac

Noticias Cusco is reporting that there is a police checkpoint in Ccorao on the way to Pisac where only those who have work passes are being allowed to continue.

As the province of Cusco is under a mandatory quarantine and the Sacred Valley is not, this is expected.

Peru’s Prime Minister Goes Before Congress

In what is a major event in Peruvian government, the Prime Minister, Pedro Cateriano, went before Congress this morning to present the administration’s policies and actions and request a vote of approval from Congress.

Cateriano discussed a very length list of actions that have already begun and those that are proposed to begin soon. He spent a great deal of time discussing the Health system, infrastructure, aid to Peruvians during thus crisis, and education.

Here is a summary of some of the things that he discussed this morning that are likely to be of interest to my readers:

  • “The Council of Ministers will concentrate on five objectives: the fight against the pandemic, creating the conditions to relaunch the economy and reactivate the productive apparatus, continue to support education at all levels, continue the fight against corruption and guarantee free, neutral and democratic elections in 2021”

  • One the country’s general budget for acquiring a COVID vaccine, he said “By the year 2021, it will be 20 billion. That is to say, 1.5 billion more destined as a priority to reinforce the first level of attention. It will be the largest investment in the health sector in its history.”

  • To acquire a COVID vaccine when available, “A multisectoral coordination mechanism has been established that includes the academic, public and private sectors, with the encouragement of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Health, whose top priority is to achieve transparent and timely procurement for the country.

  • “As for the distribution of the vaccines, priority will be given to the vulnerable population and to the professionals in the first line against COVID (health personnel, Armed Forces, National Police of Peru); then to continue with the rest of the population.”

  • There are currently 19,021 COVID-related deaths that have been reported, but there are another 27,253 that are under review as possibly caused by COVID. “There were people who died because of suspicion of COVID, but the test was not applied to them. Therefore, they were not considered to have died from the virus. Aware of this situation, the Ministry of Health has already begun to review the figures for those infected and killed, in order to update the official figures.”

  • “Rural housing will also be improved in areas of poverty and extreme poverty. To this end, an investment of 80 million soles is planned for the remainder of this year.”

  • “Through the Qali Warma programme, food will be delivered to 1 million people in vulnerable situations. Likewise, we have transferred 17 million soles with an emergency decree to almost 14 thousand soup kitchens to ensure their service.”

  • “The crisis in the COVID has caused a drop of nearly 40% in private investment in the first half of this year. This is a risk factor for economic recovery in the short and medium term…This year’s objective is to boost mining investment, investment in infrastructure and diversified investment at both the large and small company levels.”

  • Catierano discussed a very lengthy list of infrastructure projects that are approved including: “The long-desired investment project to improve tourist services and accessibility to Choquequirao Archaeological Park will be implemented through a cable access system from the south through Apurimac (section 1) and from the north through Cusco (section 2), which includes the improvement of pedestrian paths…By December 2020, it is expected that the project will be viable, with an estimated investment amount of US$ 260 million, which will then move on to the PPP structuring phase in charge of Proinversión. This will allow us to make the call in 2021 and award the project in 2022.”

  • “The Government will support the financing of the stretch of road Mollepata-Abra Camas-Colcapampa-Santa Teresa with an approximate length of 92.1 kilometers and an estimated investment of 1.616 million soles, a program that considers the construction of a tunnel in Abra Camas of approximately 1.5 kilometers.”

  • “Mining is undoubtedly the backbone of Peru’s economy. This unfortunately seems to be misunderstood by some. With almost 10% of the GDP and with a little more than 60% of our exports, it is the most important source of foreign exchange…In the current circumstances, we must take advantage of the rise in the price of copper. This trend will continue for several months.”

  • “What we must fight with energy is illegal mining. This must be fought firmly…We can’t allow this kind of larceny in the environmental area through demography (…) there are mining companies that have not behaved up to the circumstances.”

  • “As a result of the mining canon, the regional governments currently have more than 13 billion soles that they have not executed on a budget, despite the existing needs…To overcome this deficient administration of these economic resources, it has been agreed to issue an emergency decree that will allow an expeditious use of this money in health and drinking water.”

  • “It is necessary to correctly and timely apply the regulation on prior consultation and reduce the process by at least six months, also reaffirming the State’s commitment to our indigenous peoples, so that they are recognized and heard, while promoting responsible mining investments, avoiding social conflict…Resources will be transferred to the Ministry of Culture so that, for the first time, it can carry out the identification of all the original peoples and thus culminate the updating of the Database.”

  • “A supreme decree has been pre-published that improves the regulation of the master plans of the natural protected areas and regional conservation areas, in order to protect and preserve our natural protected areas and guarantee the due protection of the rights acquired in them”.

  • “The closure of international borders cut off the flow of travelers to our country, and with it, the tourist and related services chain. Our domestic tourism was similarly affected…In this new stage, our commitment as Government is to bring this sector forward again through strategies that will allow it to recover the levels that were registered before the pandemic, maintaining the necessary security measures.”

  • “Under the umbrella of the Peru brand, in the second part of the year 2020, a domestic tourism campaign will be launched, with the objective of promoting travel in a responsible, gradual and safe manner; expecting a campaign reach of more than 6 million potential travelers and a generation of more than 370 million soles…In order to ensure that our tourist destinations comply with the biosecurity measures required by the world, through the Tourism Quality Program, we are coordinating with national and international certification bodies, which will allow us to have a safe tourist destination seal.”

  • “In Peru today only four out of ten adult Peruvians have access to the financial system and an even smaller percentage has access to credit…The creation of the DNI account will be coordinated, with the objective that 100% of adult Peruvians have an account in the financial system that is 100% digital, which uses the DNI as a virtual debit card for all Peruvians who require it.”

  • “Currently, only four out of ten Peruvians have access to a pension. That is why, as the Executive, we have a proposal to reform the private and public pension system in order to contribute to public debate and social consensus…The proposal will allow all Peruvians, upon reaching retirement age, to have at least a monthly pension that will prevent them from falling into poverty…Access to the proposed system will be open to all Peruvians, formal and informal, dependent and independent, through the automatic creation of a pension account for citizens over 18 years of age, allowing them to contribute easily and flexibly, not only according to their employment situation, but also considering their capacity to save and the availability of their income.”

  • “With regard to the fight against violence against women and family members, in coordination with the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, an emergency alert information system for the disappearance of children, adolescents and women victims of violence will be developed this year.”

  • “The remote working period will be extended until July 31, 2021. To date, more than 220,000 ‘remote workers’ have been registered, avoiding the risk of COVID-19 contagion at workplaces.”

Daily COVID Update from Minsa (Today)

Since the Ministry of Health finally released their daily report in the afternoon instead of waiting until late at night, I get to include it in today’s update!

This afternoon Minsa reported 4,250 cases of COVID-19. While the number is low, the amount of reported tests was really low. (The positivity rate was 30.8%.)

They also reported 197 deaths — a slight decrease from yesterday.

There are 13,743 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1,410 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation. So far 294,187 people completed their period of home isolation or were discharged from a health facility.

Again, no regional data was provided.

Daily COVID Update from Minsa (Yesterday)

The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 6,667 new cases of COVID-19. This was the first time in 8 days without an increase in the number of cases.

They also reported 206 deaths — the most since June 11.

The positivity rate remained basically the same at an incredibly high 25.5%.

There are 13,743 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1,410 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation. So far 294,187 people completed their period of home isolation or were discharged from a health facility.

No regional data has been provided for several days.

Misc News Highlights

  • The Ministry of Health reported that 85% of those who have died from COVID-19 were obese. Specialists from the Minsa Health Promotion team said that obesity increases the risk of death and complications in Covid-19 positive patients, alters the immune system, decreases lung function through increased resistance in the airways and difficulty in expanding the lungs.

  • Approximately 15% of the total number of university students left their studies due to the crisis caused by COVID-19.

  • The Regional Health Directorate (Diresa) in Ancash will send 32 rapid response teams to targeted communities in the provinces of Santa, Casma and Huarmey to deal with COVID-19 cases.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)


Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 140

Posted on by Posted in Coronavirus, Cusco, Peru 3 Comments

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Yesterday’s first day of the new quarantine here was chaotic and largely unchanged from the day before, but today seems to be a lot quieter (as it should be). Sunday’s are complete lockdown days for the entire province of Cusco which basically applies to all of what most of us consider the city of Cusco. (It’s actually made up of multiple districts and municipalities.)

Tomorrow morning I’ll be back out with a trip to the mall and the grocery store to see just how much things have changed since last Friday and I’ll be commenting on Twitter should I see anything noteworthy.

As I post this update about 4:30 pm, there still are no specific guidelines about economic activities that have been released by the local and regional Cusco authorities. As always, I’ll be checking regularly during the evening and night and will update on Twitter if an important announcement should be released.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

Daily COVID Update from Minsa

The Ministry of Health reported 7,448 new cases of COVID 19 for the 8th straight day of rising cases. The number of deaths reported dropped slightly again for the second day in a row to 191. (As deaths are considered a “lagging indicator”, a sharp increase in the number of deaths should be expected in the coming 1-2 weeks.)

The positivity rate rose a point to 25.0% which is still incredibly high.

There are 13,700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1,416 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation. So far 290,835 people completed their period of home isolation or were discharged from a health facility.

COVID in Cusco

Cusco’s Regional Health Directorate yesterday reported 192 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 more deaths in the previous 24-hour period. While the positivity rate dropped considerably from yesterday’s (58.7%) amazing number to 13.8%. The amount of tests reported (1396) still remained quite low.

Also, there is only one ICU bed available in the region right now.

La Convención Getting New Oxygen Plant

The province of La Convención has the second most COVID cases and deaths in the Cusco region so a commission of professionals from this province created a crusade for the acquisition of a plant to generate medicinal oxygen costing US$ 235,200.

Their efforts were rewarded yesterdy when a Peruvian Air Force plane from Colombia landed in Cusco bringing the medical oxygen plant they sought.

The regional governor, Jean Paul Benavente, said that the plant will help more than 100,000 cusqueños at La Convención. “Every effort has rewards. Today the population, thanks to their effort, was able to buy a medicinal oxygen plant to treat patients with coronavirus,” he said.

He also stressed that the Regional Government of Cusco will be responsible, through the Regional Health Directorate (Diresa), for the supervision, maintenance and operation of the plant.

The province of La Convencion conducted a collection in which the Association of Professionals of Quillabamba and other institutions in the province, such as the Lions Club of Cusco, to manage the purchase of a plant of medical oxygen from Colombia. The Regional Government of Cusco, collaborated with 20,0000 soles for the purchase and and about 150,00 sole for its delivery.

National Library Begins Free Digital Book Lending

The National Library of Peru (BNP) has launched its Digital Public Library, a tool for remote access to a wide variety of content.

You can access the library here: http://bibliotecadigital.bnp.gob.pe/inicio/

To access the loan of a book or audiobook, one must enter the platform, which is available in a web version or mobile application (iOS and Android), register with the DNI or foreigner’s card (Carnet de Extranjero) for residents in the country, and make the selection of the title of your preference.

Once the availability of the publication is confirmed, the loan will be made for up to 14 days.

If the user completes the reading before this period, it is requested to return it so that other people can have access.

In this way, greater access to the titles of the collection is guaranteed for everyone, since the platform works as a face-to-face library where the copies are finite and a limited number of users can access them at the same time.

The contents are broad and diverse, from ancient and contemporary classics to universal and Peruvian literature. There is also access to various areas of knowledge such as the arts, social sciences, exact sciences, children’s literature, among others.

In addition, the Public Digital Library responds to the need of people with visual disabilities or reading difficulties, since it has accessibility features for inclusive reading that allow all users to enjoy the content, offering tools so that the text can be heard.

Soon, through this platform, reading clubs will be organized for different audiences.

The Public Digital Library is complemented by the old and heritage collections that can be accessed from the BNP Digital, where there are more than 70 thousand digitized materials available to the public.

In addition, the catalogue of the Public Digital Library, which is permanently under construction, will be complemented with a batch of books exclusively from Peruvian publishers, whose selection has been made thanks to a call made by the BNP in June.

Misc News Higlights

  • The Minister of Transport and Communications (MTC), Carlos Estremadoyro, reported that interprovincial land and air travel will be suspended in the regions that have returned to quarantine, due to the increase in cases of COVID-19 infections.

    These are the regions of Madre de Dios, Ancash, Moquegua, Tacna, Cusco, Puno, Huancavelica, Cajamarca, Amazonas and Apurimac, the same as those already in quarantine: Arequipa, Ica, Junín, Huánuco and San Martín.

  • The Ministry of Health urged the population not to self-medicate with ivermectin, a medicine that should be consumed under the supervision of a medical professional, as its improper use may cause adverse effects or health risks.

  • Banco de la Nacion are extending the validity of expired cards until the end of August.

  • Since July 22nd when it began operations, the Sacred Heart Health Center of Trujillo, known as the COVID-19 Maternity Center, has attended to 24 successful births of pregnant women who contracted the new coronavirus without presenting any complications during their pregnancy.

  • In more than four months of the state of emergency for the new coronavirus, more than 120 million soles have been registered in losses in the tourism sector caused by the health emergency in Arequipa.

  • More than a thousand police recovered from COVID-19 and returned to work the region of Lambayeque. To date, twelve policemen have died from the disease in the region and one thousand are on leave for being at-risk population and 20 are hospitalized.

  • Oxygen demand has increased in the last few days in the city of Tacna. RPP Noticias reports dozens of relatives of patients with COVID-19, form long lines early in the morning in a production plant of a private company to recharge their oxygen bottles.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)


Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 139 (Part 2)

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Saturday, August 1, 2020

As of this afternoon, no new rules and regulations have been provided as to how the provisions of Cusco’s quarantine will be enforced.

I’ve been out a couple of times today and everything seems to operating pretty much as it was yesterday before the announcement.

All businesses that were operating yesterday are open today as well. The mall is open. Restaurants are operating as before. Buses are mostly full, but with everyone wearing face shields as well as masks now.

I continue to talk to many business owners and employees. All say the same thing — that they are awaiting guidance from local officials.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

If you missed this morning’s Part 1 Update, you can read it here:

Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 139 (Part 1)

COVID in Cusco

Cusco’s Regional Health Directorate reported very disturbing news this afternoon. They reported 573 new cases of COVID-19 and 27 more deaths in the previous 24-hour period.

The positivity rate rose to an unheard of rate of 58.7%, though there was relatively few tests reported.

No hospitalization information was provided.

Updates on Travel

Just as I was about to post this, I learned that tomorrow (Sunday) will be the last day that people can travel to and from the quarantined provinces and regions.

“From Monday they will require a pass for transfer between cities, as interprovincial travel will be suspended “, said Minister of Transportation and Communications, Carlos Estremadoyro.

He also said that the other activities restarted in Phase 3 of the economic recovery will continue, but it will not be possible to restart new activities in these regions.

Passengers traveling to or from the cities of Cusco, Juliaca, Ilo and Tacna should arrive at the airport 5 hours as Minsa will be conducting random screening for COVID-19 for those passengers who have scheduled flights to or from those cities.

This afternoon LATAM representatives in Cusco told me that they would no longer be flying out of Cusco after Monday. As Sky Airlines and Viva Airlines are operating out of Cusco, I can’t confirm that the airport will be shut down after Monday. (Sky is not offering any flights on their website, but Viva is selling tickets from Tuesday on.)

Consumer Price Index Rose by 0.61% in July

Andina News reports that last month the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the national level increased by 0.61%, with a cumulative variation of 1.64% and the annualized one of 2.15%, reported the National Institute of Statistics and Information (Inei).

This result is due to the rise in prices recorded in all major consumer groups. Transportation and Communications increased by 0.96%, Food and Beverages by 0.89%, Housing Rentals, Fuel and Electricity by 0.84%, Health Care and Conservation by 0.44% and Other Goods and Services by 0.09%.

Furniture and Fixtures (0.03%) and Clothing and Footwear and Education and Culture (0.01%) also increased.

According to Inei, a total of 23 cities where the consumer price index is calculated showed price increases last July. The highest variations were registered in Arequipa (2.41%), Piura (1.63%), Cajamarca (1.59%), Huancavelica (1.58%) and Trujillo (1.05%).

Cities with negative results were Moyobamba (-0.50%), Iquitos (-0.24%) and Chachapoyas (-0.05%).

Misc News Highlights

  • The Archbishop in the Piura announced that churches will be reopened, but no masses will be held. In a communiqué, the ecclesiastical authorities of Piura informed that only the faithful will be allowed to enter for prayers or private visits. No masses, sacraments or other public acts of worship will be held.

  • More than 80 tons of garbage in Lambayeque has not been collected due to lack of personnel. Neighbors complain about the contamination, and the provincial mayor, Marcos Gasco Arrobas, says it is due to lack of personnel and broken machinery.

  • Authorities in Madre de Dios have established rigid control measures on people entering the region. They say that so far is that most are trying to reach mining areas. For now, only residents with ID cards and a negative COVID-19 test result are allowed to enter.

  • About 594 children under 17 were infected with COVID-19 in the Junín region, according to the Regional Health Directorate. According to the registry, there are 292 cases of children between the ages of 5 and 11 and 302 cases from the ages of 11 to 17.

    According to epidemiologist Luis Zuñiga Villacresis, this increase is due to citizens not complying with basic recommendations to avoid contagion, including the correct use of masks and social distancing.

  • The Ministry of Health (Minsa), in coordination with the Regional Health Directorate of Huánuco, announced that 140 new rapid response teams (RRTs) are already providing guidance, counseling, detection, clinical evaluation and treatment of Covid-19, at home, in the region.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)


Peru and Cusco – COVID Crisis – Day 139 (Part 1)

Posted on by Posted in Coronavirus, Cusco, Peru 3 Comments

Saturday, August 1, 2020

I’m going to do two updates today as there’s a lot of information that needs to be posted first thing this morning for my neighbors in Cusco.

There is a great deal of uncertainty about what is going to happen. This is a direct result of the last-minute imposition of the quarantine without allowing local and regional authorities the time to prepare and adapt.

Expect a lot of details regarding the implementation to be coming out in the next 48-72 hours. (There are some very interesting rumors going around among some media sources which may or may not turn out to be accurate. As always, I won’t report any of them until confirmation.)

I’m about to go out and see what I can learn about what’s actually going on in the city on the first day of the new quarantine period. Please understand if I’m unable to answer questions quickly while I’m out.

You can wait for the daily updates to be posted in the late afternoon/early evening, or your can follow me on Twitter (@ExploreCusco) to get immediate updates on breaking news during the day. I use Twitter to share big news that occurs during each day (and a lot is happening right now) and I strongly recommend that you follow me on Twitter to get immediate updates.

You can also follow me on Instagram (@SouthAmericanTraveler) for great photos, but I use Twitter for news updates.

Cusco’s COVID-19 Command Regulations for the Quarantine

Last night Cusco COVID Regional Command listed the following orders regarding implementation of the quarantine in the Cusco province:

  • The military and police will resume control of social mobility while maintaining monitoring of approved economic activities in phase 3 of Economic Reactivation.
  • Curfew will last from 8:00 pm to 04:00 am the next day and social immobilization will be respected on Sunday all day long.
  • For urban transport, the capacity will be inspected to be 50 % and all must wear a mask and face protector.
  • Air transport will be carried out with restrictions and health control upon arrival of passengers at the airport.
  • Markets will be open Monday to Friday from 6.00 am to 2:00 pm.
  • The number of people on the streets will be limited by the military.

Note that the section about the airport says that there will be “restrictions and health control upon arrival of passengers” without any details about what those will be. It’s possible that a quarantine will be required as was done for people arriving by bus during the first quarantine period.

While the airport may be open, flights are already being cancelled — including my flight to Lima next Friday.

Also, the “monitoring of approved economic activities in phase 3 of Economic Reactivation” is a very open statement. There is an interpretation of this that previous approved service activities will still be allowed with restrictions and limitations.

As for what will happen with restaurants, barber shops/peluquerias, laundries, etc. — I expect more information on those to be released soon.

Sadly, I spoke with several dozen different business owners yesterday and absolutely none any idea what was going to happen and didn’t know where to get guidance.

Cusco Deputy Governor on Hospital Collapse

La Republica reported this morning that Cusco’s deputy governor, Delia Condo, made a dramatic plea to President Martín Vizcarra to help stem the tide of contagion and death from the new coronavirus.

“From Cusco I make an emergency call, because our hospitals have collapsed. We urgently need beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICU), intensive care specialists, and more beds for moderates,” Condo said.

The head of COVID Regional Command, Victor del Carpio, said last week that the virus’ R factor of reproduction had escalated from 1 to 1.5 and in the provinces of Santa Anta (La Convención) and Cusco it reached 2. Before yesterday the death rate rose 2.06%.

The large Regional and Antonio Lorena hospitals of the Regional Health Directorate and Adolfo Guevara Velasco of EsSalud are packed with patients with COVID-19. There are huge queues in the access areas. A patient must wait between four and ten hours to be treated.

Last Tuesday, three patients arrived dead at the COVID Service of the Regional Hospital. In just two days (Monday and Tuesday), 11 died of coronavirus. Their bodies are piled up in the nosocomial morgue. At the Adolfo Guevara Velasco Hospital, 11 patients died in one day. “The situation is quite critical,” warns Victor Manchego Enriquez, manager of the Cusco Healthcare Network of EsSalud.

Manchego, however, warned that they are expanding the beds for hospitalization. The transfer of the use of the private clinic Oxigen Medical Network to transfer non-COVID patients will help in this regard. Thus, the insurance hospital will be used exclusively as an establishment for insured persons infected with coronavirus.

Deaths occur because there are no longer any ICU beds to care for critical patients and there is a shortage of medical staff. At EsSalud, all 18 beds are occupied. Seven patients are on mechanical ventilators and 11 are fighting for their lives with oxygen bottles.

There are also no ICU beds left at the Regional Hospital, and only six remained at the Modular Hospital of the 100 for moderate patients until Wednesday. A patient must wait in a wheelchair until a bed is released. Almost always, says a health worker, a bed is available when a patient dies. Sometimes ironically a death can save another life.

A family member of a patient at Regional complains that doctors have begun to decide who lives. “If it’s ICU or critical not yet, but in triage, if we see that the patient is asymptomatic or not serious, we tell him to go home. We’re not giving him the attention he should have. We are prioritizing serious and moderate patients who require hospitalization,” denied Enrique Arana, head of the COVID service.

The president of the medical corps, Diomedes Arias, denounced that after the collapse of the services, a team of professionals were physically and psychologically attacked by relatives of patients with COVID-19.

COVID in Cusco

The Regional Health Directorate finally released COVID data for June 30 (which is not two days old). They reported 309 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 more deaths.

Unfortunately, they did not release any data about the hospital situation which La Republica reports is completely out of ICU beds and has collapsed.

The positivity rate for the previous day’s testing did, however fall dramatically to 11.3% after reaching 30.2% the day before.

Daily COVID Update from Minsa

The latest Ministry of Health report on COVID came out in the middle of the night around 1:30 am. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise rapidly as 7,243 new cases were reported. Fortunately, the number of deaths dropped from the previous day to 195.

Also, the positivity rate dropped to the lowest in 6 days, though it still is very high at 24.1%.

There are 13,577 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 1,414 are in ICU with mechanical ventilation. So far 287,127 people have completed their period of home isolation or have been discharged from a health facility.

Minsa once again did not report totals from individual regions which is probably good as there have been serious discrepancies between what they have reported and what the individual Regional Health Directorates have been reporting. (Minsa’s totals have been dramatically less.)

Here is a chart I found showing some very interesting details about what has been reported directly from the regions as well as cases per 100,000 which is quite telling. I didn’t confirm all of the regional figures, but I checked several at random and they were all accurate.



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Please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to hear what people think! If you like this, you can share this page with the links below or even subscribe so that you’ll be notified when I post again. (I don’t sell anything here or get any commission from any place I recommend, so you don’t have to worry about that.)