Page 6 - aruba-today-20220118

A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 18 January 2022
Omicron slamming S. American hospitals as workers fall ill

pitalization and death. December. All elective coming days, in line with
Lesser severity leaves South surgeries scheduled in the the health ministry's recent-
America's residents loath to state health network have ly-issued guidelines.
give up their long-awaited been suspended for four Similar measures are being
summer that, so they were weeks. As for urgent care, enacted by authorities in
told, would mark a return relocations and overtime France and the U.S., where
to normality after full vacci- are being used as stopgap omicron has been putting
nation. The enduring pan- measures. hospital systems to the test
demic often seems an af- "Forty percent of our staff is for weeks.
terthought to people who on sick leave," Marcia Fer- Chile has seen a constant
are out and about, and nandes Lucas, health sec- increase in its number of
don't glimpse how omicron retary for the municipality cases, prompting the reac-
has started affecting medi- of Sao Joao de Meriti, in tivation of public- and pri-
cal staff. Beaches were Rio's metropolitan region, vate-sector hospital beds,
By DÉBORA ÁLVARES and able. About two-thirds of packed this weekend in Ar- told the AP in her office. but so far the country hasn't
ALMUDENA CALATRAVA its roughly 435 million resi- gentina and Brazil. "We are able to work with experienced hospital over-
Associated Press dents are fully immunized, Matías Fernández Norte, these 60% by redeploy- load. Peru has also seen
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The the highest percentage for a surgeon at the Hospital ing them (between health case its numbers rise, but its
coronavirus' omicron vari- any global region, accord- de Clínicas in Buenos Aires, centers)." facilities aren't yet suffering.
ant starting to barrel across ing to Our World in Data. told the AP that the high Public hospitals in Bo- The Pan American Health
South America is pressuring And health workers in Brazil, number of professionals on livia are operating at 50- Organization said Wednes-
hospitals whose employees Bolivia and Argentina have leave has generated "phys- 70% capacity due to the day it expects omicron to
are taking sick leave, leav- already been receiving ical and spiritual fatigue, high number of infections become the predominant
ing facilities understaffed to booster shots. in addition to the stress of among health care work- coronavirus variant in the
cope with COVID-19's third But the omicron variant is dealing with a patient on ers, according to the Bo- Americas in the coming
wave. defying vaccines, sending the edge." livian doctors' union. In week. Ten countries in the
A major hospital in Bolivia's case numbers surging. Ar- "You feel like you are liv- Santa Cruz, the country's region — especially in the
largest city stopped admit- gentina saw an average ing a parallel reality. In the most populous city, the Caribbean — didn't reach
ting new patients due to 112,000 daily confirmed street you meet a world Children's Hospital is over- the goal set by the World
lack of personnel, and one cases in the week through that doesn't seem to feel whelmed — but less by its Health Organization to
of Brazil's most populous Jan. 16, up from 3,700 a the pandemic," he said. number of patients than have 40% of citizens fully
states canceled sched- month earlier. Brazil's health "Sometimes it feels like the amount of staff fall- vaccinated by end-2021.
uled surgeries for a month. ministry is still recovering people have forgotten. Un- ing ill, according to Freddy While a smaller fraction of
Argentina's federation of from a hack that left coro- fortunately, that's what we Rojas, its vice director. Last people develop serious ill-
private healthcare provid- navirus data incomplete; feel." week, the facility stopped ness from the the highly-
ers told the AP it estimates even so, it shows a jump Brazil's council of state admitting new patients. transmissible variant, the
about 15% of its health to an average 69,000 daily health secretariats esti- "There has been a collapse, crush of contagion and
workers currently have the cases in the same seven- mates that between 10% because we don't have re- resulting strain on hospitals
virus. day period, up 1,900% from and 20% of all profession- placements," said José Luís means omicron shouldn't
The third wave "is affect- the month before. als in the health network — Guaman, interim president be underestimated, said
ing the health team a lot, Omicron spreads even eas- including doctors, nurses, of the doctors' union in San- Lula, of the Brazilian health
from the cleaning staff to ier than other strains, and is nurse technicians, ambu- ta Cruz. secretariat council.
the technicians, with a high already dominant in many lance drivers and others Such is the risk of medi- "People have to under-
percentage of sick people, countries — among them, in direct contact with pa- cal services grinding to stand that the argument
despite having a complete Brazil and some parts of Ar- tients — have taken sick a halt in Argentina's Bue- that omicron is 'mild' is
vaccination schedule," gentina. It also more easily leave since the last week nos Aires province — the false," Lula said. ___
said Jorge Coronel, presi- infects those who have al- of 2021. country's most populous — Calatrava reported from
dent of Argentina's medi- ready been vaccinated or "We are having trouble that health workers have Buenos Aires. Reporters
cal confederation. "While infected by earlier versions making the schedules," been allowed to return to Carlos Valdez and Paola
symptoms are mostly mild of the virus. Early studies said the council's director, work even if coming into Flores contributed to this
to moderate, that group show omicron is less likely to Carlos Lula. contact with someone in- report from La Paz, Bolivia,
needs to be isolated." cause serious diseases than The press office of Rio de fected, provided they are Mario Lobão from Rio de
It wasn't supposed to be the delta variant, and vac- Janeiro state's health sec- asymptomatic and vacci- Janeiro, Patricia Luna and
this way: South America's cination and booster shots retariat told the AP that nated. Other provinces in Eva Vergara from Santiago,
vaccine uptake was ea- still offer strong protection about 5,500 professionals Argentina are expected to Chile, and Franklin Briceño
ger once shots were avail- against serious illness, hos- have left their jobs since adopt the same rules in the from Lima, Peru.q

Out of this world: 555.55-carat black diamond lands in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Auction as a possible payment as well. from outer space.
house Sotheby's Dubai has unveiled a diamond Sophie Stevens, a jewelry specialist at Sotheby's "With the carbonado diamonds, we believe
that's literally from out of this world. Dubai, told The Associated Press that the num- that they were formed through extraterrestrial
Sotheby's calls the 555.55-carat black diamond ber five bears an importance significance to origins, with meteorites colliding with the Earth
— believed to have come from outer space — the diamond, which has 55 facets as well. and either forming chemical vapor disposition
"The Engima." The rare gem was shown off on "The shape of the diamond is based on the Mid- or indeed coming from the meteorites them-
Monday to journalists as part of a tour in Dubai dle-Eastern palm symbol of the Khamsa, which selves," she said.
and Los Angeles before it is due to be auc- stands for strength and it stands for protection," Black diamonds, also known as carbonado, are
tioned off in February in London. she said. Khamsa in Arabic means five. extremely rare, and are found naturally only in
Sotheby's expects the diamond to be sold for "So there's a nice theme of the number five run- Brazil and Central Africa. The cosmic origin the-
at least 5 million British pounds ($6.8 million). The ning throughout the diamond," she added. ory is based on their carbon isotopes and high
auction house plans to accept cryptocurrency Stevens also said the black diamond is likely hydrogen content.q