Tierra del Fuego remains cut off by a Chilean truckers' blockade against another blockade in Argentine northern Patagonia
The province of Tierra del Fuego in the island of the same name, in the far south of Argentina, remains isolated from the rest of the country by Chilean truckers in the Punta Delgada area, near the Strait of Magellan, who are
themselves protesting against another blockade, by health workers, in Argentina's Neuquén province, that keeps them from crossing freely that Patagonian district.
The roadblock is on the international road that links Tierra del Fuego to the Argentine mainland, a trip which includes going across a portion of Chilean territory and crossing the Magellan strait by ferry. This is the only way to go from the Argentine section of the island to the province of Santa Cruz by land. The protest began this past weekend.
According to Tierra del Fuego government sources, the Punta Delgada roadblock has already held in line some 200 trucks loaded with goods of all kinds (including food and electronic products) that can neither arrive nor leave the country's southernmost district..
Governor Gustavo Melella announced over the last few hours a series of steps to solve the situation and restore normal overland traffic.
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Five countries in the Americas received vaccines of the COVAX program this weekend
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica and Paraguay all received doses of the Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca jab as reported by the Pan American Health Organisation said.
Covax stands for the Covid-19 Global Vaccine Access Fund, an initiative involving 190 countries, driven by public and private actors, and led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This system relies on donations from wealthy countries to provide access to doses to disadvantaged countries.
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Brazil already records more deaths from Covid-19 than in all of 2020
Health authorities reported on Sunday that so far in 2021 the South American nation has recorded more deaths from Covid-19 than in all of last year.
As of Saturday, the country - with more than 210 million inhabitants - reported more than 196,000 deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus since the start of 2021.
This figure exceeds the 194,945 confirmed deaths reported since 18 March - when the first death in Brazil from the virus was recorded - until 31 December.
If the trend continues, the South American nation could reach 400,000 COVID deaths this week. Brazil is the country with the third highest number of coronavirus victims in the world after India and the USA.
Mexico to strengthen its plan against irregular migration with a focus on protecting children
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced his administration will "step up its policy against irregular migration on its southern border with a special focus on minors, that will involve setting up special shelters for them". This move comes amid a growing number of unaccompanied children and teens travelling across Mexico to the US.
Moreover, the UN singled out the countries where most of these migrants and refugees come from: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and warned that some 10 million people in those nations are in urgent need of assistance. The global entity renewed its call for more donations for the region known as the Northern Triangle, as well as long-term solutions to the humanitarian crisis of Central American mass migration.
