21 out of 38 workers tested positive in Southern Chile. On the same night, 17 crew members on 2 vessels working a salmon company had coronavirus symptoms.
The ministerial health authority based in Magellanes, southern Chile, reports that several COVID-19 outbreaks have taken place at yet-named salmon farming companies in the region.
On Friday, a boat carrying 38 workers was on its way to the capital city of Chile’s southernmost region Punta Arenas, and 21 of them tested (with tests applied by the employer) positive. The infected workers were put into quarantine.
On the same day, it was reported that 17 crew members on two separate vessels connected to a salmon farming company had symptoms attributable to coronavirus. Authorities conducted tests on the crew, the results of which have not yet been released.
Mercopress reported last week, that Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile is the country’s region with the largest rate of Covid-19 positive cases, according to the latest official data.
Salmon farming companies in the region include Australis Mar, Cermaq, Nova Austral, Salmones Magallanes, MultiExport and Blumar’s Magallanes subsidiary BluRiver.