Venezuela returns to lockdown, with 20% of country's total Covid-19 cases reported in past week

4 hr 33 min ago

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Venezuela returns to lockdown, with 20% of country's total Covid-19 cases reported in past week

From CNN’s Stefano Pozzebo

A city worker sprays disinfectant in a building in the Chacao neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, July 18. Matias Delacroix/AP

Venezuela is returning to planned lockdown measures, as the country reported 20% of its total number of coronavirus infections in just the past week, according to data collected by the government of embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela reported more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus in the past three days and more than 2,000 cases in the past week.

In total, the country has reported 11,891 coronavirus cases. More than 20% of those – 2,426 cases – were reported in just the last seven days. At least 112 people are reported to have died from the coronavirus in Venezuela.

The majority of cases and deaths reported are concentrated in the two main urban areas of Caracas and Maracaibo, according to data collected by the Maduro government.

The Venezuelan opposition and international organizations have questioned the government's capacity to trace and report coronavirus cases.

Speaking on Sunday in Caracas, Maduro urged Venezuelans to respect social distancing measures as the country returned to total lockdown from Monday. Venezuela has established a planned "7+7 lockdown approach" under which lockdown measures are relaxed for seven days and reintroduced for the following seven days.

Maduro also defended his government policy to limit the number of migrants allowed to return to Venezuela. The Maduro government has previously labeled illegal migrants as "biological weapons" and "bioterrorists."

Some background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Maduro government has allowed only a few hundred Venezuelan migrants to return home each day, as an estimated tens of thousands have been attempting to return with lockdown measures imposed across South America.

More than 70,000 migrants have returned since March, Maduro said Sunday. He said migrants who crossed the border illegally will "infect" Venezuela with coronavirus.

At least 1,136 Venezuelan citizens have been detained after returning to the country illegally, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff Admiral Remigio Ceballos said Sunday.