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Vaccine Standout Chile Battles Virus Flare-Up With More Quarantines

  • President Pinera unveils new emergency aid worth 2% of GDP
  • About 75% of all Chileans will be under strictest lockdown
A health worker administers a dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination centre in Santiago, on March 16, 2021.

A health worker administers a dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination centre in Santiago, on March 16, 2021.

Photo by CLAUDIO REYES/AFP via Getty Images

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Chilean President Sebastian Pinera unveiled emergency spending measures worth $6 billion, or 2% of gross domestic product, as the government expands quarantines aimed at slowing the nation’s most severe virus wave yet.

The administration will extend aid for families living under lockdowns, introduce new job subsidies, boost unemployment insurance and spend more on virus testing, Pinera said Monday night in a televised speech. Those proposals will raise total Covid spending to $18 billion from $12 billion, he said.