After five contagion peaks, more than 140,000 deaths and multiple variants of coronavirus -one of them originally identified in national territory-, Bloomberg recognized Colombia as one of the best countries to be during the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the indicator of that international medium – called covid resilience-, the country is in the 12th position worldwide among those that have best managed this global public health emergency. In fact, it is positioned as the best in all of Latin America. In the entire American continent, Colombia occupies the second position, only behind Canada.
The position was achieved in the most recent update of the indicator, which, according to Bloomberg, will be the last because the fluctuation of the positions has begun to stabilize. The top five best performing countries are South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Norway and Saudi Arabia.
What do the best positioned countries do?
To be successful in the covid resilience indicator, which has been published since November 2020, countries must implement at least three health strategies. On the one hand, Bloomberg warned, they must accept “that the virus is here to stay.”
This implies that it is not seen as an emerging public health problem that can be avoided through confinement plans or strict definitive closure measures, also known as “covid zero strategies”, but it is understood that it will generate a permanent affectation in the population.
In the second instance, for Bloomberg it is key that countries are implementing an “aggressive” anticovid vaccination plan, which focuses above all on vulnerable populations: People over 60 years and patients with underlying diseases that affect the response of their immune system.
Finally, the countries that are in the best positions have also made enormous institutional efforts to return to normality in economic and social matters: reopen businesses, guarantee the return of air routes and return to the life that existed before the appearance of of coronavirus.
An achievement for all
In Colombia and abroad, almost a consensus has been created regarding the good response that the Ministry of Health had at key moments of the pandemic and in the advance of the vanticovid cure. In fact, the strongest point of the management of the President Ivan Duque is vaccination once morest covid-19.
This was pointed out by the Colombians who answered the Great Yanhaas Survey, published at the beginning of June this year. According to the statistical measurement, seven out of ten citizens (71%) approve of Duque’s performance in terms of Plan National Vaccination.
However, Bloomberg noted that he not only qualifies the performance of the governments in his ranking, but also the joint effort of the entire society in each country.
According to the media, the common factor among the countries with positive results on the list is that the general population has adapted to the conditions imposed by the pandemic. They have judiciously used the mask in the worst contagion peaks, they have gone to get massively vaccinated and have worked hand in hand to protect the groups that are most at risk of getting worse and dying from covid.
“This is a message of optimism, the work continues and we cannot lower our guard, we must continue to work very hard for our population to reduce the risk because it is a reality that covid-19 is not going to go away,” he said. the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, compared to the good results obtained by Colombia in the Bloomberg ranking.
The pandemic continues
Colombia’s good position in Latin America is not, however, an indicator that the country has eliminated the threat posed by covid-19. In fact, the fifth peak of infections is occurring in the national territory, which for now continues unchecked.
According to the most recent report on covid-19, at the national level there are 25,198 people who are currently sick with covid-19 and in the last seven days alone, 100 people have died from this disease.
“We have also observed a reduction in vaccination and we know that it is essential to maintain sustained immunity and that is achieved with reinforcements and completing the initial schemes,” said Minister Ruiz.
The booster anticovid vaccination is key because according to the records of the National Institute of Health (INS), at this point in the pandemic the most affected continue to be adults over 60 years of age.
