The Ministry of Health of the Nation reported this Wednesday, March 23, 2022, that, in the last 24 hours, 78 deaths from coronavirus and 3,603 new infections were recorded. With these figures, the total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic rose to 9,019,660, while deaths total 127,752.

On this last day, 40,625 tests were carried out, so the registered positivity rate is 8.86%. This percentage is below the 10% recommended by the WHO to consider that the pandemic is under control.

There are currently 68,184 active cases in the country. These are people who were diagnosed with the disease and have not yet been discharged into the national system. Meanwhile, the total recovered amounts to 8,823,724.

On the other hand, of the total deaths reported today, 30 are men and 47 women. A deceased person residing in the province of Buenos Aires was registered without data on sex. The province of Buenos Aires, in addition, was the one that reported the most deaths with 51 deaths. The figure represents 65.38% of the total deaths this day.

According to the epidemiological part, at the moment, in Argentina, there are 659 people with COVID-19 hospitalized in intensive care. The percentage of bed occupancy at the national level is 38.5% and in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) it is 38.3%.

Of the 3,603 infections reported this afternoon, 1,294 (35.91%) are from the province of Buenos Aires; 504 from CABA; 26 from Catamarca; 30 from Chaco; 195 from Chubut; 20 from Corrientes; 302 from Cordoba; 97 from Entre Rios; Formosan 35; 1 of Jujuy; 46 from La Pampa; 65 from La Rioja; 52 from Mendoza; 286 from Missions; 62 from Neuquen; 49 from Rio Negro; 15 from Salta; 21 of San Juan; 69 from St. Louis; 44 from Santa Cruz; 107 from Santa Fe; 3 from Santiago del Estero; 8 from Tierra del Fuego and 272 from Tucumán.

Pharmaceutical Moderna today announced the interim results of its vaccine against COVID-19 for children under 6 years of age. The company said that two 25 microgram doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years old provided a similar immune response to two 100 microgram doses for adults 18 to 25 years old, indicating that the benefit conferred to young adults is also conferred on young children.

The results were obtained from the analysis based on a group of 6,900 children from 6 months to 5 years of age.

Most of the adverse reactions were mild or moderate and were more frequent after the second injection. The company noted that no deaths or cases of myocarditis or pericarditis were reported. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis is inflammation of the lining of the heart.

The two doses of the vaccine are given to children 28 days apart. The data showed ” a robust neutralizing antibody response ” and ” a favourable safety profile,” according to the pharmaceutical company’s statement released today.

After more than a month of declining cases globally, new COVID-19 infections began to rise around the world last week. With strong blockades in Asia and exponential increases in Europe, for the World Health Organization (WHO) the cause is “a combination of factors, including the highly transmissible Ómicron variant and the BA.2 subvariant, added to the lifting of social measures and public health”.

In this context, and with a view to the start of the winter season in the southern hemisphere, the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have already requested the US FDA to authorize the emergency use of the fourth dose of their mRNA vaccine against COVID -19 (second reinforcement or recall), in the face of a possible increase in cases and “the possibility of another wave of the pandemic.”

In some countries, such as the case of Spain, the application of a fourth dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 was approved but exclusively for immunosuppressed people and five months after receiving the last dose.