Personnel that tested positive and their close contacts were evacuated from the White Continent.

The information regarding the Antarctic’s sanitary situation continues. 36 people tested positive for Coronavirus; 26 army personnel and 10 civilian contractors performing maintenance work at the Bernardo O’Higgins Base, in the White Continent.

In the press release, the INACh reported the current situation of each of the national bases in the White Continent. Thus, it was confirmed that the staff of the national bases at Bahía Fildes and King George Island have undergone the PCR tests, out of which only one was positive. This case, together with the pertinent close contacts, were evacuated to Punta Arenas. Currently, there are 98 people on the Escudero and Frei bases, as well as the Maritime Governorship, all of them with negative PCR results and a good health condition; however, it was confirmed that they are been monitored by the regional health authority.

The staff from Prat base (Greenwich Island) and Gabriel González Videla base at Bahía Paraíso, which amount to 32 people (29 at Prat and 3 at González Videla) continue performing their tasks and have no information regarding contacts with infected people.

The Teniente Carvajal base (Bahía Margarita), Risopatrón base (Robert Island), Yelcho base (Doumer Island), Guillermo Mann base (Livingston Island), and the Union Glacier Joint Scientific Station currently have no active-duty staff.

So, it is confirmed that the personnel that tested positive for Covid, and their close contacts on the Chilean bases, have been all evacuated from the Antarctic and are in Punta Arenas.

Likewise, the press release explains that the monitoring of the stations belonging to the Chilean Antarctic Programme will continue to rule out the existence of new outbreaks, reinforcing the application of all the sanitary protocols even more.

Source: El Pingüino Newspaper. 25 December 2020, Punta Arenas