Coronavirus: Chile struck in the heart in its copper mines

Text by: RFI Follow

Chile is concerned about the number of cases of coronavirus in copper mines. Red metal is the main wealth of the country, and represents 50% of its exports. Activities never stopped in the mines, and the health security measures put in place in the sector were clearly not sufficient. Hospitals in the country's main mining region, Antofagasta, are nearing saturation. And several major copper mines have been forced in recent days to curtail their activities.

Publicity

with our correspondent in Santiago, Justine Fontaine

Forty-five percent fewer workers at the Chuquicamata mine, the world's largest surface copper mine, public giant Codelco has decided for two weeks. Because the mining region of Antofagasta is currently the most affected by the coronavirus in Chile, after the capital.

And the situation is particularly dramatic in Calama, as evidenced by the city's mayor, Daniel Agusto. "  Calama is dying. The Ministry of Health decreed containment much too late, when the contagion, the new cases, were already out of control.  "

"The gente está muriendo en los servicios de urgencia, the gente está muriendo en plus casas, y esto va a seguir así si no tomamos medidas personales, tomar conciencia ... que tienen que sumarse todos." Dr. Francisco Muñoz, Hospital Carlos Cisterna de Calama.https: //t.co/aKARlGTh7P

Estimada comunidad, entregamos informs #COVID ー 19 from nuestra región.

Lamentamos reportar el registro de 16 fallecimientos ocurridos en los últimos días. pic.twitter.com/QCbDSrhuOi

The cemetery is full and at the moment the rate of positive exams for Covid-19 reaches even 80% in the municipal health centers of the city. The mayor accuses the mining sector of having wanted to put profits before the health of employees.

Hugo Benitez, the president of the order of doctors of the Antofagasta region, calls the mines to responsibility. “  They caused the contagion of at least 1,500 employees. We understand that mining is extremely important for the country and for this region, but to protect the sector it is also necessary to protect the people who work there!  "

► Read also : In Chile the Minister of Health resigns at the height of the coronavirus epidemic

He has proposed in vain, since the end of March, to impose a prior fortnight on employees who come every week or every two weeks to replace the previous team in the mines.

► Read also : In confined spaces, these “clusters” which cause fear of a second wave

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• Coronavirus

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