The use of face masks in Peru will remain mandatory in open and closed spaces due to the low rate of third-dose COVID-19 vaccinations and the presence of sub-variants,
National Health Institute (INS) Chief Victor Suarez said on Monday.
In this regard, Suarez affirmed that 49% of the target population in Peru has received the third dose. However, there are large gaps between regions.
"The coverage is not homogeneous at the national level. We need to increase this so as to start relaxing some measures such as the use of face masks at open spaces free of huge crowds," he said.
On the other hand, Suarez remarked that the increase in the incidence of new COVID-19 variants such as the Omicron BA.2 strain is a very important factor to consider before relaxing the biosafety measures.
In this regard, he said the BA.2 variant appears to be 30% more contagious than the BA.1 variant, which triggered the third wave in January this year.
"Around 250 samples a week were taken initially. This suggested that BA.2 cases, at first, were isolated cases that represented 1% of the samples. Last week, such cases accounted for 5% of all cases. Every week or two, the number of BA.2 cases can double," the head of INS warned in statements to RPP.
Capacity limits at schools
Suarez pointed out that opening schools at full capacity is one of the factors that depend on the children's vaccination rate and the monitoring of the increase in cases in the school-aged population.
In that sense, he noted that no spike in cases due to the re-opening of schools has been seen after classes started.
(END) LIT/RMB
Published: 4/11/2022