The measure was taken following the report of 55 inmates infected with the disease in the midst of the repeat outbreak in the country and covers the 41 precincts of the Penitentiary Management Model, the General Directorate of Prisons and the Integral Attention to Adolescents in Conflict with the Penal Law.

‘The country is currently experiencing the third wave of Covid-19 infections, with more than a thousand positive cases every day, more than half of the intensive care beds occupied and only 40 percent of ventilators available,’ prison authorities reported in a statement.

The authorities also stated that ‘the medical areas recommended the temporary postponement of the face-to-face visits to our facilities until the outbreak is controlled and we have concluded the vaccination with the two doses to each inmate.’

Finally, they pointed out that the infected inmates receive assistance and medical treatment in their respective enclosures and the authorities are making progress in the vaccination process of a population of almost 28 thousand people, of which 873 have the two inoculation doses and nine thousand the first, for a total of 9,943 vaccinated.

pgh/llp/mem/ema