The coronavirus outbreak has lastly landed on the untouched continent on the earth. Chilean officials announced that at least 58 people that were at two military bases in Antarctica or on a navy ship that went to the continent tested positive for Covid-19.
On Monday, Chile’s army said that 36 people at the Gen. Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base have tested positive, and on Tuesday the health minister for the Biobio region in Chile said there are 21 infections involving people aboard the Chilean navy's Sergeant Aldea supply vessel.
Las Estrellas' village reported one case where civilian personnel working at the Lieutenant Rodolfo Marsh Martin Air Force Base live, said Eduardo Castillo, regional health secretary for the Magallanes area, which oversees Chilean operations in the Antarctic. The Sargento Aldea ship docked at that village, he added.
A group of 36 people including 26 members of the military and 10 civilian employees of a maintenance contract group have by far shown no complications, said the army.
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Michelle Rogan-Finnemore, executive secretary of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, said in a statement that the office received a report from the Chilean Antarctic Institute on Friday about positive cases aboard the Sergeant Aldea vessel “who would have disembarked in the ports of Punta Arenas and Talcahuano" on Chilean mainland.
Last week, Sergeant Aldea vessel’s 3 people tested positive while the entire 208 crewmembers are under quarantine. The navy said the vessel had serviced the base on the Trinity Peninsula between Nov. 27 and Dec. 10.