Delcy Rodriguez, vice-president of the Nicolas Maduro regime, confirmed 137 new cases of COVID-19 on June 23, bringing the official total to 4,185 patients, an increase of 25%. In the daily report, there were inconsistencies in the figures, so Maduro reported new 58 community cases, but Rodriguez reported only 56.
In late May, early June, Maduro tried to ease the curfew, but after the dramatic spike, additional measures announced as part of a radicalized quarantine.
Military checkpoints have been established between municipalities, and sometimes neighborhoods to impede travel by car. Highways connecting the capital to other cities are closed. And a nationwide ban on medical consultations and elective surgery, at clinics as well as hospitals, has been enacted.
Rodriguez reported that 81 of cases come from Venezuelan migrants who are returning to the country, and 56 are positives for the community transmission.
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Rodriguez explained that most of the community cases located in Merida (25), of which 18 infected at a family party, Capital District, Lara, and Miranda state.
“All that is the (Andean and Western Venezuela) axis of Merida, Trujillo, Lara, Falcon, we have seen an impact from the state Zulia, of the market focus of Las Pulgas,” said Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
The Mercado de Las Pulgas (Flee market) is in Maracaibo, in Zulia state, but only a couple hours by car from the Colombian border. One of the largest open-air markets in the world, the Maduro’s regime had to use police, military, and paramilitary Colectivo forces to clear it of vendors and customers in an effort that lasted for days and was, by most testimony, only partially successful.
Regarding the imported cases, she said that 66 come from Colombia, eight from Ecuador, six from Peru, and one from Brazil. The Caracas subway and the Valles del Tuy railroad will remain open, Rodriguez said, but only to priority sector workers.
Besides, and for the first time, the national holidays and the official Armed Force parades of June 24, Battle of Carabobo Day, the last battle of the Venezuelan Independence War, and July 5, the Venezuelan Independence Day had been canceled.
