Venezuela Brings Pandemic Under Control
On May 15, Jorge Rodríguez, Vice President for
Communication, Tourism and Culture of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, presented a
detailed update on the results of his country's
management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the
country's total 469 confirmed cases, he said 229
-- close to 50 per cent -- had recovered, with 220
being treated in hospitals, clinics or followed in
special comprehensive diagnostic centres. Ten
people have died -- with no new deaths occurring
since April 19.
Rodríguez reported that Venezuela's mortality
rate was the lowest in the region, at an
impressive 0.35 per million. Its low number of
confirmed cases -- at 16 per million -- is
surpassed only by Nicaragua’s four per million.
Venezuela also has administered more tests per
million (just over 18,000) than any other country
in the region. While the cases and deaths reported
by a good many countries and jurisdictions are
widely considered to be underestimated because of
the abominably low levels of testing, this is not
something Venezuela can easily be accused of. Its
aggressive testing policy has been made possible
by the supply of test kits made available to it
for both laboratory and rapid diagnostic tests by
China and Russia. As well, its overall public
health approach to combatting the coronavirus has
been boosted with the help of Cuba's Henry Reeve
Medical Brigade and other medical workers it has
sent to assist Venezuelan doctors and health teams
in implementing the personalized and
community-based diagnostic and treatment model
Cuba is renowned for.
Rodríguez provided graphs to show how Venezuela
had indeed flattened the curve of COVID-19, while
neighbouring countries continue to struggle with
rising numbers and much higher death rates. He
attributed Venezuela's success to the government
having taken the decision early on to implement
social distancing, the wearing of masks and strict
quarantining, which had proven successful in
China. It also moved quickly to institute a
nationwide survey and household-to-household
follow-up with anyone who reported COVID-like
symptoms. As of May 15, 210,678 home visits were
carried out. He emphasized that Venezuela's having
controlled transmission of the disease is not a
reason to relax these measures, as there is the
risk of a resurgence in short order should the
protocols be lifted. He announced that a million
rapid tests are now going to be administered
around the country to check for antibodies as part
of planning for the future.
Rodríguez pointed out that Venezuela's low
mortality and high recovery rate is also thanks to
treatments provided to all COVID-19 patients,
using a number of drugs that have proven helpful
in Cuba, China and elsewhere, including Cuba's
Interferon Alpha 2B and others.
In breaking down the data he presented, Rodríguez
noted that the state of Nueva Esparta on the
Island of Margarita had the highest number of
cases in the country due to the fact that
officials of a private baseball academy ignored
the quarantine and travelled with some players to
the Dominican Republic, where they became
infected, then transmitted the virus to their
students and others upon returning home.
Vice President Rodríguez also pointed out that
during the month of May between 70 and 80 per cent
of new cases had originated outside the country as
migrants returned home in their tens of thousands
from other South American countries, mainly
Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Chile, where
rates of infection are much higher and the
pandemic has not been brought under control. In
March alone, 34,000 migrants are reported to have
returned to Venezuela, many because they were left
without jobs, homes, any source of income or
status in countries they have migrated to in
search of work. The Venezuelan government has a
repatriation policy and welcomes all Venezuelan
citizens who wish to return from countries they
migrated to, in many cases transporting them at
its own expense. Upon arrival at the border, all
are screened, tested and quarantined for 14 days
with food and lodging provided at no cost in
special centres, and those who require care are
admitted to a treatment facility until they have
recovered, in order to prevent transmission of the
disease inside the country.
This generous repatriation initiative is not
something one will find reported in the
imperialist media, that have gone out of their way
in recent years to tell horror stories about
Venezuelan "refugees" fleeing to countries whose
governments are part of the Lima Group, which is
engaged in demonizing the Venezuelan government
and plotting with the U.S. to overthrow the
government of President Nicolás Maduro. These same
media, along with hypocritical and dishonest
international coup plotters, including the Prime
Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada,
refuse to acknowledge these undeniable
achievements of the Venezuelan people and their
government. Instead they continue to embrace a
criminal imposter who is ready to see the blood of
his compatriots shed at the hands of mercenaries,
as the "legitimate president of Venezuela," and
conspire with the worst of the worst in Latin
America about how they are going to solve
Venezuela's "humanitarian crisis," which they say
threatens the entire region, all in order to
justify their interference.
Congratulations to the Venezuelan government and
people for the results they have achieved in
managing and bringing the pandemic under control
by prioritizing the health and well-being of the
population, based on science and solidarity as
first considerations! It is all the more worthy of
recognition given the brutal siege they are under,
including the constant and growing threat of a
foreign invasion -- something the accomplices and
appeasers of the U.S. imperialists in both the
north and south of the hemisphere, to their shame,
cannot bring themselves to condemn.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 17 - May 16, 2020
Article Link:
Venezuela
Brings Pandemic Under Control
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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