The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 () severely affected Chile. The virus was confirmed to have reached Chile on 3 March 2020. Initial cases had been imported from Southeast Asia and Europe, and expanded into a large number of untraceable infections, placing the country within phase 4 of the pandemic as defined by the World Health Organization, with over 1,000 confirmed cases by 25 March 2020.
The cases were concentrated in the Santiago metropolitan area, with outbreaks in other regions in the country. No national lockdown was established in Chile, unlike in neighboring Argentina and Peru, although a night curfew was implemented throughout the country. Quarantines were established locally in different cities and neighborhoods. However, in May 2020 the whole city of Santiago was put under mandatory quarantine due to an increase of cases, and similar situations were extended to most of the largest cities in Chile.
Considering its population, by June 2020 Chile had one of the worst outbreaks in the world. Initially, the number of fatalities reported was lower than in other countries in South America, even those with fewer cases. However, in May 2020, the number of cases and deaths increased rapidly, while several sources reported excess deaths not officially attributed to COVID-19, which were not counted. By June 2020, the government confirmed thousands of additional deaths due to COVID-19, including suspected cases where PCR tests were not available. The pandemic reached a peak on 13 June with 195 daily confirmed deaths and nearly 7,000 positive cases. By July 2020, 10,000 people had died, and Chile had the sixth largest number of cases in the world. In the following weeks, the number of daily cases and deaths started to decrease slowly, although some local outbreaks appeared. The number of cases increased later in the year, and by March 2021 the number of daily cases had exceeded those in the initial wave.
Chile became one of the first countries to start a nationwide program to vaccinate against COVID-19. On 24 December 2020, the first batch of vaccines arrived in the country to inoculate mainly health workers. With larger batches of vaccines (mainly Sinovac's CoronaVac) arriving from February 2021, Chile became one of the fastest countries in the world to inoculate their population: by March 2021 a quarter of the population had received at least one dose. This fast response was due to signing contracts with multiple providers, a strong public immunization program, and little anti-vaccine sentiment. Despite the success of the vaccination program the number of cases increased, which has been attributed to early relaxation of restrictions and a false sense of security.
With more than 92,000 cases and 2,500 deaths per million inhabitants, the impact of the pandemic has been great in the South American country. In March 2020, when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, the country was still facing protests and riots that had begun in October 2019, and the pandemic affected the scheduled 2020 Chilean constitutional referendum, which was rescheduled and held later in the year. Partial lockdowns and quarantines were established in the first months, hitting the economy of the country. By April 2020, unemployment had reached 9%, a ten-year high. A wave of protests sparked in late May, mainly in Santiago, due to food shortages in certain sectors of the population. The Chilean GDP shrank by a 5.8% in 2020, the largest recession in 40 years in the country. Chile is the only country in the world with entry procedures such as requiring homologation of vaccines to travel to.
Background
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which first came to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality rate for COVID-19 was much lower than that due to the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, which was due to another coronavirus, SARS-CoV-1, but the transmittability was significantly greater, leading to many deaths due to the large number of cases.
Timeline
2020 March 3 March: The Ministry of Health confirms the first case of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Chile, making it the fifth country in Latin America to report such an instance after Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina. Patient zero was identified to be a 33-year-old man living in San Javier and tested in Talca, Maule Region. He contracted the virus while on honeymoon in Southeast Asia. 4 March: The government confirms two more cases. One being patient zero's wife and the other being a 56-year-old woman who had traveled through several European countries, including Italy. She was also the first case in Santiago. 7 March: The Ministry of Health confirms the first case in a minor, a 17-year-old boy who had traveled to Europe with the third and fifth confirmed patients with the virus. The first case in Puerto Montt is identified. 8 March: 3 more cases are confirmed, including an 83-year-old woman who contracted the virus from a family member visiting her from New York, who later presented symptoms themselves and was diagnosed with COVID-19 upon return to the United States. This is considered the first case infected within Chile. 9 March: A 2-year-old infant is infected, becoming part of the Maule cluster, and the first case is declared in the Biobío Region. The Ministry of Health announces that it would start reporting new cases in a daily manner instead of case by case as they were confirmed. 11 March: The number of cases in the country reaches 23, 14 of them being in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which became the first region in Chile with over ten confirmed cases. Most of them are located in the upper-class neighborhoods of Las Condes, Vitacura and Lo Barnechea. 13 March: The first educational institution in Santiago begins a quarantine period, after a teacher working in Saint George's College tested positive to the virus. President Sebastián Piñera announced a ban on public events with more than 500 people, in a government attempt to control the spread of COVID-19. 14 March: 18 new cases are confirmed, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to 61. The first cases are announced the regions of Antofagasta (2 cases), Atacama (1) and Aysén (1), the latter being an 83-year-old British tourist aboard a cruise ship that landed in Puerto Chacabuco after showing symptoms of COVID-19, having previously disembarked in Caleta Tortel. As a precaution, nearly 1,300 fellow-passengers on two cruises, along with the entire town of Tortel, are quarantined. 16 March: 81 new cases are confirmed in a single day, increasing the total to 156 confirmed cases. According to the definition of the Health Organization (WHO), the start of stage 4 of the pandemic begins, as President Piñera announces the closure of "all land, sea and air borders (...) for the transit of foreign people". Chilean nationals and permanent residents were allowed to enter after a mandatory 14-day quarantine. 17 March: A cluster of more than 20 cases is confirmed in Chillán. The virus had spread due to direct and indirect interpersonal contact within a gymnasium. Pedro Edmunds Paoa, mayor of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), announces that Mataveri Airport would close to avoid the virus reaching the isolated island. 18 March: The Government issues a 90-day state of catastrophe in an attempt to take greater control of spread of the virus, effective at midnight. The state of catastrophe was ultimately renewed by the President for the entire year. 19 March: The first day with more than 100 cases confirmed, bringing the total to 342. The same day, the couple who were the first reported cases of COVID-19 were deemed to have recovered, and were sent home to begin a post-recovery quarantine. 20 March: The mayors of Las Condes, La Reina and Vitacura declare a preventive quarantine for these sectors of the capital, where many confirmed cases of coronavirus had been recorded. 21 March: Health Minister Jaime Mañalich confirms the first death due to coronavirus infection in Chile, an 83-year-old woman from Santiago. 22 March: The number of total coronavirus cases reported reaches 632. A nationwide curfew is imposed between the hours of 22:00 and 5:00, while Easter Island (Rapa Nui) establishes a curfew from 14:00 to 5:00. 24 March: The first case in Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is reported, despite the measures taken days before. 25 March: The number of cases reaches 1,000. A total of 1,142 cases and 3 deaths are reported by the government. 26 March: Lockdown is introduced in 7 communes of Greater Santiago (Santiago, Independencia, Providencia, Ñuñoa, Las Condes, Vitacura, and Lo Barnechea). 27 March: Lockdown is introduced in Temuco and Padre Las Casas (Araucanía Region) due to high increase on new cases.
April - May 19 April: In a cadena nacional, President Piñera announces a gradual process to adapt to a "new normal", including reopening schools by May 2020 and the return of public workers to office. 29 April: Minister Jaime Mañalich backs down on earlier plans for Immunity certificates, saying they would launch "release certificates" not certifying immunity instead. No certificate is eventually launched. 30 April: Joaquín Lavín, mayor of Las Condes, reopens the Apumanque shopping center in Santiago, which closes the following day. 15 May: Quarantine is extended to the entire Santiago Metropolitan area. 28 May: The Chilean government confirms a total of 86,943 cases, surpassing the number of official cases recorded in China, the source of the pandemic.
June 2 June: The Ministry of Health changes the definition of active cases, reducing them to a third. According to the Ministry, an active case is considered recovered 14 days after the start of symptoms and not since the detection of the virus, as it was considered before. The number of recovered cases disappears from the Ministry's daily reports. 3 June: The Ministry of Health implements new criteria to consider a death as related or due to COVID-19. The number of deaths the day before reaches a new maximum of 87 cases and a third of them (33) are incorporated due to the new criteria. 6 June: Santiago Metropolitan Region surpasses 100,000 cases, while the number of deaths recorded reaches 1,184 cases in the region. 7 June: Minister Jaime Mañalich announces that 653 additional deaths were not considered in previous reports and will be incorporated in the official reports in the following deaths. Adding those cases to the 1,637 official cases, the number of deaths reaches 2,190 cases. 9 June: The government announces a new change in the method of counting fatalities, identifying the cases using text mining on the death certificates issued by the Civil Registry and Identification Service. Although the new method identified more cases in the long term, it produced a lag in the daily reports. Owing to the change in methodology, 19 new deaths are reported. 10 June: The first complete report with the new methodology for identifying deaths is released, including 192 cases. The number of confirmed cases reaches 148,496 people. 13 June: A report released by Ciper informs the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Health reported more than 5,000 deaths related to COVID-19 to the World Health Organization, a smaller number than the number available in public reports. Undersecretary Paula Daza confirms there was a parallel count including suspected cases but it was not available in a daily basis and was not official. Minister Jaime Mañalich resigns and is replaced by Enrique Paris.