SANTIAGO (AFP) - As the planet battles the seemingly inexorable spread of the coronavirus, Antarctica remains the only Covid-19-free continent - thanks in the main to strict security and not a little luck.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
SANTIAGO - As the planet battles the seemingly inexorable spread of the coronavirus, Antarctica remains the only Covid-19-free continent - thanks in the main to strict security and not a little luck.
"We are isolated within this natural isolation that we already have," Mr Alejandro Valenzuela, the maritime governor of Chile's Antarctic territory, told AFP by phone.Chile has cut its Antarctic staff to a minimum, maintaining a skeleton force of 10 navy personnel at its Escudero military base in Bahia Fildes on the South Shetlands.Nearby is one of five Russian bases, as well as missions from Uruguay, Korea and China.
And the continent dodged a bullet when an inward bound Australian tour ship, the Greg Mortimer, was forced to turn back when the first cases of Covid-19 were discovered aboard, an outbreak which eventually affected nearly all 217 passengers and crew. A YEAR IN ISOLATION Uruguay cut staff at its Artigas base to just nine people, after recently evacuating 10 non-essential personnel.
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