No to the virus! the Galapagos want to continue enchanted
In the islands they carry out a campaign to close the door to Covid-19 and undertake a safe economic reactivation
Jorge Alvarado
November 11,2020
From Monday, November 9 to 18 of this month, 10,000 tests will be taken to detect the virus. This care is free for the islanders. COURTESY
In the so-called “Enchanted Islands”, the Covid-19 pandemic leaves 230 cases and one death to date, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Health. Precisely in these days, there has started a new battle to contain the virus and to be able to continue with their lives amid landscapes and incomparable nature, although within the framework of a new normal.
10,000 real-time PCR swab tests are carried out in the Galapagos, as a new phase to detect the virus in the island community. It is the campaign “Let’s take care of ourselves Galapagos” and, to launch it, on November 9, 2020, 22 professionals arrived on the islands to take these tests.
Fifteen professionals will remain on Santa Cruz Island and 7 in San Cristóbal and Isabela until November 18. In this free care brigade, which is a free benefit the islanders, two types of tests will be carried out: the antibody test to detect if the user already had COVID 19, and the PCR, which is the well-known swab.
“There are 8,000 tests that will be applied in the plan” Let’s take care of Galapagos “and 2,000 for the epidemiological surveillance that is maintained with suspected cases of COVID-19 in the archipelago,” reported the Municipality of Santa Cruz.
Public-private initiative
The campaign is a public-private initiative of social responsibility that seeks to ensure that the economic reactivation of the islands occurs safely. Added to this is the management of the municipal GADs of the three cantons of Galapagos, the Ministry of Health and other public and private entities such as Ecogal, ABG, DPNG, Latam, Capturgal and the Synlab Group.
The professionals who take the tests arrived on Monday, November 9 to the islands.
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