Uruguay is successfully facing the pandemic

The global news agency BBC published on May 29th an extensive praise of Uruguay's achievements in its fight against the pandemic that is plaguing humanity and that finds Latin America at the epicenter of contagion. The country has so far registered just over 800 cases of the disease and confirmed 22 deaths, according to government figures. 

Citing other media, the BBC highlighted the praise given to Uruguay's strategy to deal with COVID-19. The South American country decided not to enter into mandatory quarantine and appealed to the will of its population to stop the spread of the disease, which had its first public cases in the country in mid-March. 

"Oasis", "exception", "example" were some of the terms used to illustrate Uruguay's actions. 

The BBC stressed that the country's health system has not collapsed, due to good management to keep the infection rate, which is in fact very low. These reasons led the government to authorize the staggered start of some activities such as face-to-face education.

In this field the country has stood out as a result of its previous preparation. For 13 years, Uruguay has been implementing the Ceibal Plan, an educational policy within the framework of One Laptop per Child, which provides laptops to all students in public education. Using this policy and after doing some adjustments, thousands of children were able to continue with remote learning programs in the country. 

"The virus spread did not accelerate in Uruguay as it has in several countries of the region. The World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for the Americas and director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa Etienne, warned against opening up activities in Latin America too quickly. However, Giovanni Escalante, PAHO/WHO representative in the country said that "these statements may not apply to Uruguay," reported the BBC.

"In the case of Uruguay, President Luis Lacalle Pou has designated an honorary advisory council to identify the best available evidence, gather recommendations from more than 40 experts and integrate them into reports for the government to make informed decisions," Escalante explained to the media.