The decision is radical but the message is clear: you have to stay at home. Chile raised Thursday to five years in prison the maximum penalty imposed for non-compliance with confinement, to succeed in finally keeping the population at home. "The better the respect for confinement, the shorter the necessary duration of the measures, and the less the restrictions on freedoms will be," justified President Sebastian Pinera when promulgating the law.
Army controls
The confinement in Chile limits travel to shopping in authorized shops (supermarkets and food, health, banks, post offices and collection points, DIY) and to the workplace, with compulsory permit. The army is responsible for controls in public space, and according to its data, it finds violations only in 0.5% of cases. But getting a permit from an employer is not a problem.
As in most South American countries, the situation in Chile is worrying. The capital Santiago thus has difficulties in stemming the epidemic in certain poor districts, in particular with high immigrant population, and in overcrowded buildings.
In total, the country reached 225,103 cases of coronavirus on Thursday, for 3,841 deaths. For public health specialists, it is therefore crucial that contact between people is limited. In the capital region, which has 7 of the country's 18 million inhabitants, displacements have thus decreased by only around 30% compared to the period before the pandemic. However, epidemiologists estimate that it would be necessary to reach a fall of at least 50% for the rate of contamination to slow down.
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