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On Monday, Colombian President Iván Duque announced that the mandatory lockdown in the country would end on September 1, and a gradual reopening stage called “selective isolation” will begin until the end of the month. It is worth highlighting that the quarantine in Colombia was the longest in the world.
This new “selective isolation” implies that the country will not be governed through lockdowns and quarantine, but events and places where crowds could gather will be restricted. According to the president’s statements, this reopening will advance with greater speed in municipalities of low contagion.
On the other hand, inter-city transport, which is already permitted in 600 municipalities with no COVID-19 cases, and air travel will be resumed across the country, following biosecurity protocols.
Duque believes that commerce will open more quickly, and that capacity will be reviewed. Regarding businesses, Fenalco indicated that 30% of the commercial establishments closed permanently.
Restaurants can open if they operate outdoors or at 50% capacity. The gastronomy sector is among the industries most affected by the pandemic, and many restaurants have closed as a result of the lockdown.
In major cities, the number of active cases of COVID-19 has decreased, and the percentage of occupancy in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) has dropped significantly.
Se acabarán las cuarentenas en Bogotá, en buena parte porque la ocupación de UCIs bajo, a pesar de que hay más casos confirmados de UCI que antes.
Visualmente, no veo evidencia que el día sin IVA incrementará contagios. La tendencia venía subiendo y siguió igual. pic.twitter.com/oXgGl5qAJK— Jorge A. Tovar (@JorgeATovar) August 24, 2020
However, cities like Bucaramanga and Santa Marta have not overcome the peak of the pandemic. It should be noted that the number of daily tests has decreased compared to last month. This could make the tracking of cases more complicated and increase the risk in these cities.
#AsíVamos Se abre la economía. Hay que abrir la economía y aprender a convivir con el bicho en la calle porque aún estamos en el pico … B/manga y Sta. Marta siguen subiendo por ej.
Quisiera ver más énfasis en cómo circular con más gente en la calle. pic.twitter.com/CvoueiUImg
— Jorge A. Tovar (@JorgeATovar) August 25, 2020
According to economist Jorge A. Tovar, the number of tests has gone from 40,000 per day in the middle of August to less than 23,000 per day at present. The positivity rate continues to be high.
#AsíVamos Comenzando a no subir, bajar en varias ciudades, incluso el número de fallecidos pareciera ceder.
Pero debo decir que no entiendo por qué hemos bajado en las prueba realizadas. De 40.000 hace 8-10 días, hoy reportan 22.824, y la tasa de positivos sigue siendo alta. pic.twitter.com/WmPcaGVBPD
— Jorge A. Tovar (@JorgeATovar) August 24, 2020
Finally, President Duque also signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to advance Phase III trials of its COVID-19 vaccine on 60,000 volunteers across the country.
In an interview with Dinero magazine, Josue Bacaltchuk, Vice President of Medical Affairs for Janssen Latam, pointed out that the vaccine development program takes advantage of AdVac and PER.C6 technologies.
According to Janssen, the PER.C6 technology “provides a cost-effective manufacturing system for high-yield, faster and large-scale production of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. It is especially useful for vaccine manufacturing that requires the production of hard-to-grow viruses.” Meanwhile, AdVac technology is “based on the development and production of adenovirus vectors (gene carriers).
It can be used together with PER.C6® technology to develop recombinant vaccines against life-threatening infectious diseases.”
These technologies were also used in the “development and manufacturing of the investigational Ebola vaccine” and “used to construct (Janssen’s) Zika, RSV and HIV vaccine candidates.”
