COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela
The COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first two cases in Venezuela were confirmed on 13 March 2020; the first death was reported on 26 March. However, the first record of a patient claiming to have symptoms of coronavirus disease dates back to 29 February 2020, with government officials suspecting that the first person carrying the virus could have entered the country as early as 25 February.
| COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela | |
|---|---|
Line for gas during the pandemic in Miranda | |
| Disease | COVID-19 |
| Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
| Location | Venezuela |
| First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China (global) Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Spain and the United States (imported) |
| Index case | Miranda State |
| Arrival date | 13 March 2020 (4 years, 1 month and 5 days) |
| Confirmed cases | 376,311 (as of 5 October 2021) |
| Active cases | 4137 (as of 5 October 2021) |
| Recovered | 357,339 (as of 5 October 2021) |
Deaths | 4,539 (as of 5 October 2021) |
Territories | Capital District, all 23 states and 1 federal dependency |
| Government website | |
| covid19 coronavirusvenezuela | |
| Crisis in Venezuela |
|---|
| Venezuela portal |
Venezuela is particularly vulnerable to the wider effects of the pandemic because of its ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis causing massive shortages of food staples and basic necessities, including medical supplies. The mass emigration of Venezuelan doctors has also caused chronic staff shortages in hospitals.
To prevent the spread of the disease into Venezuela, the governments of Brazil and Colombia temporarily closed their borders with Venezuela. The Colombian government had placed 1 October as a tentative date for reopening the border.
In February 2021, Venezuela started vaccinations with the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and a vaccine produced by the Chinese company Sinopharm. It aimed to vaccinate 70 percent of the population by the end of 2021. An academic survey found that by the 1 September 2021, 10% of the Venezuelan population was fully vaccinated. By the end of 2021, Venezuela had administered 30,049,714 doses of vaccine, about 52.7% of the country's population.