54% of Medellin’s Recent Coronavirus Patients Already Recovered So Far: Mayor’s Report

The Mayor’s Office of Medellin announced April 17 that 100 of 183 confirmed cases of Coronavirus here have already fully recovered – a 54% recovery rate to date, with more recoveries expected.

In total, 4,154 persons in Medellin suspected of having Coronavirus-like symptoms have undergone laboratory tests. “Of these, 3,669 have shown no infections, 302 are under study and 183 have been positive,” according to the Mayor’s Office.

What’s more, “100 of the 183 confirmed cases have been recovered — that is, more than half,” according to the Office.  So far, only one person in Medellin — a 90-year-old woman suffering several other life-threatening illnesses — has died of Coronavirus complications.

“Timely decision-making, rigorous monitoring of each case, and other measures implemented by the Medellin city government have been decisive for the containment of the virus one month after the first case of Covid-19 in the city was confirmed,” according to the Mayor’s Office.

Beyond the national quarantine that is helping not only Medellin but also all Colombia to stem the spread of Coronavirus infections, Medellin also ordered compulsory use of masks in public transport and all enclosed spaces.

“In addition, the activation of 123 field investigations and isolation [orders] has allowed the epidemiological dynamics to be different compared to the rest of the country,” according to the Office.

“We have had valuable days that have allowed us to prepare for the most important phase of the epidemic: the mitigation phase,” added Medellin Health Secretary Andree Uribe Montoya.

“All the actions we have taken to anticipate the Coronavirus have allowed all cases to be controlled and we have all the measures identified to control the spread of the virus,” Uribe added.

Since January 27, the Health Secretariat of the Mayor’s Office of Medellín “began executing an action plan to deal with the Coronavirus, initially focused on preparation and coordination of all the actors that would be key to containing the virus: departmental administration, transport terminals, airports, hospital network, personnel and health professionals,” according to the Mayor’s Office.

“From then on, [the city government issued] timely communications about personal hygiene and healthy lifestyle recommendations; the training of more than 4,000 people in topics related to Covid-19 prevention; the allocation of more than COP$3 billion [US$763,000] to strengthen the health system; the activation of the ‘Acute Respiratory Infections’ contingency plan and the start-up of the ‘123’ emergency line for the attention of Covid-19,” according to the Office.

“Thanks to timely diagnoses, it has been possible to identify and treat the 183 local patients, thus avoiding [a greater pandemic]. The good news for the city is that more than half of the cases have already recovered . . . a figure that added to those recovered from the rest of Antioquia reaches 158,” or fully one-quarter of the entire national recoveries, the Office noted.

According to the Colombia Health Ministry, as of April 17 Colombia had 3,439 cases of Coronavirus, led by Bogota (1,396); Cali/Valle del Cauca (605); and Medellin/Antioquia (324). Nationally, 153 persons have died from Coronavirus complications, while 634 have fully recovered as of April 17, according to the Ministry.