Venezuela Relaxes Quarantine Despite Spike in Covid-19 Cases

HAVANA TIMES – Venezuela on Monday continued reopening its economy despite an increase in novel coronavirus cases, reported dpa news.

The district of the capital, Caracas, and at least six states were allowed to open 10 non-essential economic sectors, according to an announcement made by President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday.

Seventeen other states were placed under a more flexible regime and may reactivate 34 sectors of the economy.

The measures are part of a system within which weeks of confinement alternate with weeks of reopening.

The authorities have confirmed 25,805 virus infections and 223 deaths, but the real figures are believed to be much higher.

More than 800 new infections were recorded on Sunday alone, 337 of them in Caracas.

Maduro did not say why the quarantine was relaxed in the capital district.

A radical lockdown remained in force in municipalities near the border of Colombia, which has confirmed 387,481 cases.

Maduro extended by 30 days a health emergency which was declared in mid-March.

There is concern over the ability of the country’s impoverished health system to cope with the pandemic.