The 43-year-old woman has been in quarantine since her arrival in the country
A pedestrian walks on a street in Santiago, Chile. IANS
Chile confirmed the first case of the Delta variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 in the country on Thursday, after analysing the test results from a Chilean patient who came from the US, authorities said.
“We have officially confirmed the presence of a patient with the Delta variant, who came from the US and entered through the Santiago airport,” Chilean Minister of Health Enrique Paris said during a speech before the Chamber of Deputies.
The 43-year-old woman has been in quarantine since her arrival in the country, and the Delta variant “is much more contagious than others we have had so far,” Paris explained.
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The Chilean Congress will vote Thursday on a request to extend the constitutional state of exception for another 90 days, starting on June 30, which allows the regulation of people’s liberties, including a night curfew currently in effect, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The detection of the Delta variant in the South American country came amid high levels of Covid-19 infections and hospital demand, despite the progress of mass vaccination against the virus, according to specialists.
Chile had accumulated 1,531,872 Covid-19 cases and 31,797 deaths as of Thursday.
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