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BOGOTA (Reuters) - Head nurse Veronica Luz Machado, who for months has battled the coronavirus pandemic from an intensive care unit in the northern Colombian city of Sincelejo, became the first person in the Andean country to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.
Beginning with Machado, 46, Colombia will kick off its plan to immunize 35.2 million people with vaccines acquired through a raft of bilateral deals as well as the World Health Organization-backed COVAX mechanism.
“The pandemic really changed our lives completely, particularly for me and my colleagues, because we were facing an unknown virus, we didn’t know how to respond,” Machado, who works at Hospital Universitario, said in a government broadcast earlier this week, before receiving the first shot of Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine.
Colombia will pay $1.29 billion of global bonds in March, earlier than planned, by using funds it raised in international capital markets last month, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.
POLL-Colombia January inflation to show moderate growth-analysts Reuters 2/2/2021
By Nelson Bocanegra
BOGOTA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Colombia s January inflation is expected to show moderate growth after certain industries struggled under restrictions imposed in large cities to control a second wave of coronavirus, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
According to the median view of 23 analysts surveyed, consumer prices will have risen 0.44% in January, in turn pushing 12-month inflation up to 1.62%.
If correct, Colombia s 12-month inflation to January will inch above the 1.61% recorded in 2020, the country s lowest yearly inflation level on record.
Upward inflationary pressures will have been concentrated in food prices, as well as transportation prices, owing to certain tariff increases and fuel costs, said Camilo Perez, head of economic studies at Banco de Bogota.
Colombia appoints Diego Molano as defense minister Reuters 2/2/2021
BOGOTA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Experienced official Diego Molano has been named as Colombia s new defense minister, President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday, and will face challenges including restarting aerial fumigation of coca crops and improving security.
Molano, 50, who most recently worked as director of Duque s administrative department, replaces Carlos Holmes Trujillo, who died last month as a result of viral pneumonia related to COVID-19.
The first challenge awaiting him will be restarting aerial spraying of coca crops - the chief ingredient of cocaine - with the herbicide glyphosate. We will concentrate our efforts in continuing and accelerating the fight against drug trafficking, Molano said during an announcement with Duque broadcast on social media. We will continue eradication, deepening aspersion with precision.
Colombian capital to lift tough COVID restrictions after passing second peak, mayor says Reuters 2/2/2021
BOGOTA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Colombia s capital Bogota will lift tough restrictions and a city-wide red alert against COVID-19 on Wednesday, Mayor Claudia Lopez said on Tuesday, having overcome the peak of a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Surging infections in the new year following celebrations in December saw intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy rates rise above 94%, prompting Lopez to impose curbs on movement, neighborhood quarantines, and nightly curfews.
ICU occupancy rates for patients with coronavirus have since fallen to 81%, according to local government figures. We have passed the peak of the second wave of COVID-19. With this favorable trend we will be able to lift the red alert and zonal quarantines from tomorrow and get back to business, Lopez said in a message on Twitter.