Chile reports reduction in new COVID numbers

Chile reduced by around 25% the number of new COVID-19 infections reported on Monday, while in greater Santiago police controls were increased to stem the number of people travelling.

Health Minister Jaime Mañalich reported that 4,606 people were infected with COVID-19 and there were 74 deaths, that's 27% and 23% less than on Saturday.

The number of deaths, however, could increase in the coming days because registrations drop on weekends.

Chile registered 138,846 cases of the novel coronavirus and 2,264 deaths.

In greater Santiago, where most of the infections and deaths from COVID-19 are concentrated, authorities have failed to reduce the mobility of people despite being in quarantine for three weeks.

Felipe Alessandri, Santiago Mayor, said they are supervising the heart of downtown Santiago because people "have been careless."

"They have been irresponsible, and we have 11 weeks of quarantine and more than 2,000 deaths," he said.

Claudio Castillo, a Professor of Public Policy from the University of Santiago, told The Associated Press the number of new infections dropped from 13.2% about a month ago to 1.3% last week.

However, he noted that the speed of contagion hasn't been reduced.

Chile is still on an upward curve, but at a slower speed, he explained.

Chile is among the countries with the highest number of infections per million inhabitants in the world.

Those infected and those who have died are concentrated in greater Santiago, where a mandatory quarantine has not managed to break the chain of infections because, according to the authorities, people's mobility has only been reduced by 30%.

Police and military patrols have increased controls to verify that those who move have the temporary permit, which is easily obtained on a police website.

On Sunday the police granted 592,000 temporary permits.