Vice President warns of tighter restrictions

Santo Domingo, DR

Vice President Raquel Peña said that the 34.88% daily positivity registered in the coronavirus cases in the country reflects the failure to observe the restrictions on December 23 and 24, when the measures against COVID-19 had not yet been tightened.

On December 30th, the government announced a curfew from 5:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. on January 1-10, 2021, except for Saturdays 2 and 9; and Sundays 3 and 10, which begin at 12:00 noon and end at 5:00 a.m.

Similarly, the curfew of December 31 was changed, starting at 7:00 at night with no grace period to arrive at the house.

At the press conference at the National Palace on Monday morning, Peña said they are confident that all the people will abide by the measures, “so that we do not have to take other, more robust steps.”

Peña expressed that they hope to reflect the restrictions in a decrease of positivity in the next few days.

The new cases reported this January 4 are 2,043, with a daily positivity of 34.88%, after 9,454 tests processed in the last 24 hours.

The cumulative number of registered cases is 175,374, while assets total 39,143.

Similar to July
The celebration of the elections last July and the Christmas and New Year holidays were the events that have contributed to the increase of coronavirus cases in a country that has been in a state of emergency since the end of March with at least 16 curfews.

In 2021, the Dominican Republic has reached its fifth day of the new year. It already has a record number of coronavirus infections, with 2,043 cases reported yesterday, very similar to the highest reported by authorities on July 26th of 2,012 cases, the month considered the most lethal of the pandemic in this territory with 405 deaths and 37,218 infections.

The month of July had the peculiarity that the presidential and congressional elections of the 5th were held in the country. There were crowds, little distance, and the curfew was lifted for two weeks.