Guatemala in red alert de to the increasing increase of COVID-19 cases.    Image: Moises Castillo / AP.

Guatemala City, September 5 (RHC)-- Almost 90 percent of Guatemala's 340 municipalities are on red alert due to the growing increase in cases of COVID-19, according to data from the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance.

A report by EFE says that after the last fifteen days with more than 5,000 cases every 24 hours, the red alert has covered the Central American country even more, with 305 municipalities in total, 16 more than the previous update of the last fortnight; that is, 89.7% of municipalities.

In addition, the update of the alert traffic light decreased the orange color, which went from 32 to 21, and also lowered the yellow alerts from 19 to 14, which went to the highest level, red, due to the high density of cases.

The alert system, also known by the authorities as the "Epidemiological Traffic Light," was implemented by the Government of Guatemala in 2020 to determine the mobility of the population based on the number of recent covid-19 infections.

The system is updated every fifteen days and, in addition, has a green color for municipalities with a low level of infection. However, since the implementation of the epidemiological traffic light, no municipality has reached this color.

The colors are classified by the Ministry of Health according to three different scores in each locality: the rate of positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants in each municipality, the rate of daily tests performed per 1,000 inhabitants, and the percentage of positive cases out of the total number of tests performed.

Guatemala has registered 12,155 deaths due to the disease and 484,263 confirmed infections in total, of which 52,467 cases are active.  The first coronavirus infection in Guatemala was detected on March 13, 2020, although the nation presided over by Alejandro Giammattei began testing in February of the same year.