The CoVid-19 pandemic has finally reached every continent on the planet after it was reported by Chile's armed forces that the virus has now been detected on Antarctica at a remote scientific research station.
The Chilean army is now attempting to clear-out and quarantine the research station where it has been confirmed that 36 people have been infected. The station at Bernardo O'Higgins base lies in the northernmost peninsula of Antarctica and is used for a variety of scientific research purposes. Chilean authorities say that all those leaving for Antarctica had received a negative CoVid-19 test before embarking on their journey. It is however known that the PCR test they took is not 100% accurate and, occasionally, infections can be missed, particularly if the infection was acquired recently.
Those working on Antarctica at bases run by a large number of nations have spent the pandemic making huge efforts to stop CoVid-19 reaching the continent. This included halting all tourism, using extensive testing, and making all those entering research posts quarantine for a specific amount of time.
At any one time, there are around 1,000 people on the whole continent working at around 38 known bases. Militaries are also thought to use the continent for undercover training operations. The Magallanes region, where the Chilean research outpost lies, is one of the most frequented and populated regions on the continent. It is thought however that person-to-person contact between different research posts on the continent is minimal and therefore it is unlikely that this one outbreak will result in a continent-wide outbreak.
Since the start of the outbreak in 2019, it has taken the CoVid-19 virus just over one entire year to infect every continent on the planet.
Chile, a country with a population of almost 19 million people, has recorded almost 600,000 CoVid cases since the start of the pandemic and recorded over 16,000 deaths. In November, the British Medical Journal 'The Lancet' described the CoVid-19 pandemic in South America a humanitarian disaster, with Brazil being particularly badly hit and countries such as Peru having one of the highest per-capita death tolls in the world. It said:
"But the region as a whole is facing a humanitarian crisis borne out of political instability, corruption, social unrest, fragile health systems, and perhaps most importantly, longstanding and pervasive inequality—in income, health care, and education—which has been woven into the social and economic fabric of the region. An estimated 231 million people in Latin America are predicted to be living in poverty by the end of 2020 (reaching a level last seen 15 years ago)."
COMMENTS