Peru hospitals fill as COVID-19 cases spike

STORY: Peru Virus Crisis - Peru hospitals fill as COVID-19 cases spike

LENGTH: 03:56

FIRST RUN: 2023

RESTRICTIONS:

TYPE: Spanish/Natsound

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS/GOVERNMENT TV/PERU MINISTRY OF HEALTH HANDOUT

STORY NUMBER: 4360930

DATELINE: 10-11 January 2022 - Lima

SHOTLIST:

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lima - 11 January 2022

1. Crowded hallway inside EsSalud Alberto Sabogal Hospital, with patients and care givers

2. Various of health care providers tending to two COVID-19 patients on ventilators inside a hospital room

3. Close of a COVID-19 patient on a respirator, eyes covered by white gauze

4. COVID-19 unit chart indicating each nurse and doctor tending to each patient indicated by a bed number

5. Various of healthcare providers tending to a COVID-19 patient on a respirator

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Mirko Conde, Internist at Hospital EsSalud Alberto Sabogal:

"The unvaccinated now account for over 50% of the beds in use (in hospital) but of a very small population, while the larger population, which is of the vaccinated, occupy the other half but their symptoms are much less severe, their illness much milder."

7. Conde standing next to COVID-19 patient's bed with two healthcare providers

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lima - 10 January 2022

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Patricia Garcia, Former Peruvian Minister of Health (via Video link):

"In Peru, at this moment we find ourselves at the point where cases are on the rise fundamentally due to omicron.  At this moment we are at a rising peak, which has not ended, which is even higher than those of the first and second waves that we had."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lima - 11 January 2022

9. Traveling shot of people standing in a line, social distancing, as they wait to get their COVID-19 jab

10. Various of people standing in line to get their jabs

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lima - 10 January 2022

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Patricia Garcia, Former Peruvian Minister of Health:

"The vaccines are safe.  Millions of people are being vaccinated and the proof is that, in this wave, those who require hospitalization or more serious treatment are the unvaccinated."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lima - 11 January 2022

12. Various of people receiving their COVID-19 jabs at a vaccination clinic held outside under a tent

GOVERNMENT TV

Lima - 10 January 2022

13. President of Peru, Pedro Castillo speaking at an event

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Pedro Castillo, President of Peru:

"We are using maximum efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.  COVID and its variants continue to manifest and are a danger to the entire world.  We must understand that and for that there is this country, for that there is this government."

GOVERNMENT TV

Lima - 11 January 2022

15. President Castillo entering a COVID-19 clinic waiting room and shaking hands with people seated there

16. Castillo entering a COVID-19 ward inside a hospital and speaking to an attending nurse

17. Various of Castillo greeting COVID-19 patients in their beds

18. Castillo speaking with an attending nurse

PERU MINISTRY OF HEALTH HANDOUT

Lima - 11 January 2022

19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hernando Cevallos, Peru's Minister of Health:

"Here (in Peru) during the last week we have gone from 26,000 cases to 87,000, almost 88,000 from the week prior.  That is a vertical increase in the number of cases and the projection we are making is that every 2.2 days this number of cases will double."

20. COVID test results lined up on a table

21. Various of a COVID-19 testing site, people being tested

STORYLINE:

Hospital beds and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are once again filling to capacity in Peru with the new COVID-19 omicron variant on the rise and the delta variant continuing to infect people.

The EsSalud Alberto Sabogal hospital, in the Callao district of Lima, is full and COVID-19 patients on ventilators occupy most of the beds.

"The unvaccinated now account for over 50% of the beds in use (in hospital)... the vaccinated, occupy the other half but their symptoms are much less severe, their illness much milder," said Dr. Mirko Conde, an internist at the hospital.

Although cases may be milder for those who have been vaccinated, Peru's former Minister of Health confirmed that cases are now at their highest peak ever, higher even than during the first and second waves.

"We find ourselves at the point where cases are on the rise fundamentally due to omicron," said Dr. Patricia Garcia making the case that the vaccines are indeed working.

"In this wave, those who require hospitalization or more serious treatment are the unvaccinated."

Peru's government records indicate that 66% of the population has been vaccinated and President Pedro Castillo has pledged his government's full support to vaccinate everyone in ongoing efforts to control the spread of the virus.

Peru is among the countries with the highest mortality rates from the virus, with more than 202,000 deaths, and 2.3 million confirmed cases, according to official figures.

The omicron variant spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries.

It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.

However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, and vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.

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