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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile’s blazing fast vaccination program has reached the icy shores of Antarctica, officials and researchers told Reuters on Wednesday, bringing a sense of relief to one of the most isolated and vulnerable outposts on Earth.
The pandemic hit Antarctica in December, making it the last of the world’s continents to report an outbreak of COVID-19. Chilean health and army officials scrambled to clear out staff from a remote region with limited medical facilities.
Marcela Andrade, an official with the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), told Reuters by phone that air force personnel, followed by staff at the Profesor Julio Escudero research base, were inoculated on Sunday with vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
COVID-19 Now On Every Continent After At Least 36 People In Antarctica Test Positive
Antarctica was the only continent untouched by the coronavirus pandemic. But now, a Chilean research base has suffered an outbreak, with at least 36 people testing positive for COVID-19 this week marking a grim milestone in the fight against the virus.
Chile s armed forces told Reuters that 26 army personnel and 10 civilian maintenance workers have been infected at its Base General Bernardo O Higgins Riquelme. The remote research station, permanently staffed and operated by Chile s army, is surrounded by ocean and icebergs near the tip of a northern Antarctic peninsula.
The pandemic has reached every continent on Earth.
Chilean authorities announced that at least 58 people at two military bases in Antarctica, or on a navy ship that went to the continent, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
So far, no other country with a presence in Antarctica has publicly reported other cases. There are 36 coronavirus cases at the Gen. Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base, Chile says. (Google Street View) (Google Street View)
Chile’s army announced Monday that 36 people at the Gen. Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base tested positive, and on Tuesday, the health minister for the Biobio region in Chile said there are 21 infections involving people aboard the Chilean navy’s Sergeant Aldea supply vessel.
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It has been a tough year for Jacksonville s firefighters, suiting up for viral protection to help hundreds sickened by the COVID-19 virus as they see dozens of their co-workers quarantined due to exposure or worse.
On top of that, firefighters have been burned while battling a ship fire on Blount Island and as they looked for a victim in a burning house, and injured when a fire engine rolled over on Interstate 95.
So when the first firefighters received the Moderna vaccine Wednesday to combat COVID-19 as they prepare to help administer it across the city, Chief Keith Powers said he was glad that his unites got it this quick.
COVID-19 pandemic reaches Antarctica, last untouched continent
By EVA VERGARA The Associated Press,Updated December 22, 2020, 6:47 p.m.
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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) â The pandemic has finally reached every continent on Earth.
Chilean authorities announced that at least 58 people that were at two military bases in Antarctica or on a navy ship that went to the continent tested positive for the new coronavirus.
So far no other country with a presence in Antarctica has publicly reported any other cases.
Chile s army announced Monday that 36 people at the Gen. Bernardo O Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base have tested positive, and on Tuesday the health minister for the Biobio region in Chile said there are 21 infections involving people aboard the Chilean navy s Sergeant Aldea supply vessel.