Tag Archives: Peru

Yesterday’s announcement of measures being taken to attack the huge rise in COVID infections across Peru was done in a very haphazard and seemingly unplanned way so I decided it was necessary to present the announcements in a clearer, more organized way based on information published by the office of the President very late last night.

These measures go into effect tomorrow (Friday, January 15) through January 31, but will be evaluated every two weeks to see if changes need to be made.

The country’s regions were separated into three different levels: moderate, high, and very high levels of concern.

[Note: The official decree has yet to be published so it is possible that there might be some alterations before tomorrow.]

Moderate Level

Regions: Amazonas, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Loreto, San Martín, Ucayali

Curfew hours: 11 pm to 4 am

Gyms, Theaters, Casinos, etc. – maximum 40% capacity
Commercial stores – maximum 50% capacity
Restaurants – maximum 60% capacity
Churches – maximum 30% capacity

High Level

Regions: Arequipa, Apurimac, Cajamarca, Callao, Metro Lima, Cusco, Huánuco, La Libertad, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Pasco, Puno, Tumbes

Curfew Hours: 9 pm to 4 am

Gyms, Theaters, Casinos, etc. – maximum 30% capacity
Commercial stores – maximum 40% capacity
Restaurants – maximum 50% capacity
Churches – maximum 20% capacity

No use of private cars allowed on Sundays.

Very High Level

Regions: Ancash, Ica, Junín, Lambayeque, Lima Provinces, Piura, Tacna

Curfew Hours: 7 pm to 4 am

Gyms, Theaters, Casinos, etc. – maximum 20% capacity
Commercial stores – maximum 30% capacity
Restaurants – maximum 40% capacity
Churches – maximum 10% capacity

Sundays are under a complete curfew.

Other Measures Announced

Beaches will remain closed.

Flights from Europe will continue to be restricted.

All international arrivals still are required to quarantine for 14-days upon arrival, but may take COVID test on the sixth day of quarantine. If it comes back negative, they will be released from quarantine requirements.

All international arrivals must present a negative PCR COVID test upon entering the country.

All along I’ve said that we would be seeing the results of the holidays on COVID-19 data by the second week of January. Sadly, those results are showing up now and COVID-19 appears to making a massive comeback in Peru as previous incremental increases have rapidly become exponential increases based on data from the Ministry of Health (Minsa).

The leading indicator is the positivity rate which has shot up drastically just in in the past few days, but has shown a steady increase of about 50% since Christmas.

Here’s how the positivity rate of testing has gone up and down since the near start of the pandemic:

This chart shows how it has risen since Christmas:

Hospitalizations have also risen an astounding rate since Christmas:

The number of people being treated in ICU care has also been going up, though recent reports indicate that this may be flattening simply because the number of available ICU beds is nearly full.

While the number of daily deaths has climbed only slightly, it is considered a “trailing indicator” and likely will begin to increase soon.

Anecdotal stories of large portions of the country ignoring mask earing and social distancing laws is especially frightening. I’ve seen lots of videos posted by friends in some places — particularly Iquitos — showing an almost complete disregard for masks.

One expat from the Iquitos area publicly asked “Does anyone else find themselves smoking more in public so you don’t have to wear these stupid masks.”

A couple of days ago I did a two hour walk around the southern part of town. I only saw two people not wearing masks out of probably thousands I passed on the street. One was a mentally disabled man who is well known around town.

The other was a worker in a coffee shop near the Plaza Real mall. He simply didn’t seem to care about it at all. This is the only time in months that I’ve found any employee anywhere not wearing a mask. He didn’t have it below his chin or apparently laying around where he set it down for a moment for some reason. He didn’t care.

I bought a couple of bread items then, after I walked out, thought about it and threw everything in the trash before heading straight for a store to buy alcohol to clean my hands. That was 5 soles down the drain.

Fortunately in Cusco, most people still wear masks. In the center and in the major areas of town mask wearing is still almost universal. It’s still rare to enter any business without having our hands sprayed with alcohol and most still check your temperature on the spot.

The Minister of Health, Pilar Mazzetti, said yesterday that “Our situation can change at any time. Indeed, we are already changing, at this time the health system is receiving more patients. We are moving from a resurgence to a time when the number of cases is already rising faster, we are in a second wave.”

“We are in a situation of uncertainty. It is hard, but we have to be clear,” she said referring to the possibility of returning to a mandatory quarantine.