Montevideo: Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 and cancelled his trip to the ninth ongoing Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. In a tweet late Monday, the President said: Due to the trip tomorrow to the Summit of the Americas in the US, I had a PCR today. The result of it was that I am positive for Covid-19. As a result of this situation, I must cancel all activities for the next few days.Meanwhile, epidemiologist Juan Gil says that the number of cases reported in Uruguay for the past few weeks has increased mainly due to the Omicron B2 variant. In addition to recognizing that it is more contagious, he said some of the factors are the arrival of the southern winter with greater permanence in closed spaces and the relaxation of preventive measures after the end of the health emergency.
The former member of the dissolved Honorary Scientific Advisory Group observed from the point of view of health care providers that now āthere is more laxity in testing and that leads us to think that we are under-diagnosing.ā For his part, professor of infectious diseases, Julio Medina, said that Uruguay is going through the third Covid-19 wave, in addition to the flu and respiratory diseases typical of lower temperatures. Medina warned that this new situation will pose challenges first and then increase difficulties when it comes to managing outpatient care, emergency care and the availability of intensive care beds.