measures to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. the medical syndicate of uruguay (sindicato médico del uruguay) called for a general quarantine (shutting down all nonessential businesses and activities). as of 19 march, the possibility was being discussed in the government but had not been implemented due to concerns about its economic effects. in late march, the government closed uruguay's borders to foreigners, with the exceptions of uruguayan residents, transit passengers, and cities on the border with brazil. on 30 march, the government announced that from 1 april to 12 april measures would be taken to restrict movement within the country in the lead-up to "tourism week" (the uruguayan term for holy week). residents were advised not to use rvs or to travel with hunting weapons, and campgrounds were closed. the public was advised to stay home and avoid going to public places or campgrounds. on 17 april, president lacalle pou informed that his administration decided to create a group, locally known as the gach, made up of experts in order to define methods and studies to advise the government. the main experts were: the mathematician, electrical engineer, and academic from the latin american academy of sciences, fernando paganini; dr. rafael radi, the first uruguayan scientist at the national academy of sciences of the united states and president of the national academy of sciences of uruguay; and dr. henry cohen, president of the national academy of medicine and awarded as a master by the world gastroenterology organisation in 2019. as of 2 december, given the increase in cases (especially in montevideo), a series of temporary measures were put into effect to slow growth. among them the closure of sports activities in gyms and closed places, the implementation of remote work requirements, closing of restaurants after midnight and the suspension of end-of-year parties. on 16 december, due to the exponential growth of cases, the executive power announced a new set of measures: the regulation of article 38 of the constitution (the power of the executive power to dissolve agglomerations); the prohibition of entry from abroad between 21 december and 10 january; the reduction of the capacity in interdepartmental transportation by half on those dates; the extension of the opening hours of shopping malls and street markets; the reopening of gyms (with a maximum capacity of 30%) and the suspension of public shows. 21 days later, on 6 january, it was announced that the closure of the borders and the regulation of article 38 of the constitution would remain for 20 more days. in addition, it was announced that public shows would resume with a minimum capacity, and sports without spectators, as well as allowing bars and restaurants to extend their opening hours until 2 am. on 27 january 2021 it was announced that as of 1 february the borders would reopen to uruguayan citizens, resident foreigners and in the cases of the exceptions provided. on 16 march 2021, two weeks before classes began, president lacalle pou announced a two-week suspension of classes in the rivera department and the suspension of the compulsory attendance in the rest of the country. a week later, on 23 march, and having confirmed cases of the brazilian variant in seven departments of the country, more measures were announced: the closure of public offices until 12 april; the suspension of in-person classes at all levels of education; the closure of hot springs, gyms, and free shops in the border with brazil. in addition, he informed that the "covid tribute", a tax for those officials whose salaries exceed uyu 120,000 a month, would be reinstated and that it would be used towards the "coronavirus fund". lacalle pou denied that the country would return to "stay at home", but that it would be "stay in your bubble". these measures were later extended to april, may, and june. the return to face-to-face education began on may 3, with the opening of rural schools. on june 7, first, second, and third-grade primary school students from montevideo, canelones, and salto returned to their classrooms. on june 14, fourth, fifth and sixth year students from urban schools throughout the country, except those in montevideo, canelones and salto, who returned to face-to-face classes on the 21st. on july 12, the students of the first, fourth, and sixth grade of high school and utu returned to face-to-face classes; while a week later, on july 19, the second, third and fifth graders. on july 5, public shows were enabled, as well as parties and events of similar characteristics, and food courts, with capacity limitations. movie theaters were also enabled, except those in montevideo, canelones and maldonado, which were reopened to the public on july 15. since august 18, the public was able to enter stadiums; the first match was at the campeón del siglo stadium in which club atlético peñarol played club sporting cristal, with a capacity of 5,000 spectators being allowed in the venue. on november 1, the borders were opened, allowing entry to foreigners who prove they had been inoculated with one or two doses, depending on the vaccine; and those who have had the disease within the last 90 days prior to arrival in the country. in the first week, more than 23,000 people entered the country, while 19,000 left. impact unemployment claims increased dramatically in mid-march 2020, went down somewhat by the end of the month, then increased again in early april. there were 86,000 unemployment claims in the month of march, whereas an average month sees about 11,000. the majority (about 85%) of claims were due to suspension, and only 3% were due to layoffs. by early april, home internet usage had increased by 32% and mobile usage had increased by 44%, according to the state-owned telecommunications company antel. vaccines procurement on 23 january 2021, president lacalle pou announced at a press conference that the government had purchased 2 million doses from pfizer and 1.75 million shots from sinovac biotech, while negotiating with a third laboratory. however, on 27 january 2021, dimas covas, director of the instituto butantan, the research centre which administers the purchases of sinovac vaccines in latin america, stated that there was not an agreement yet between the centre and uruguay's public health ministry, thus contradicting the statement that the uruguayan government had purchased sinovac vaccines. nevertheless, covas mentioned that there was a "pre-agreement" in place. the first batch of pfizer vaccines is expected to arrive in late february or early march, 2021. in addition, the uruguayan government intends to acquire 1.5 million vaccines from the covax initiative of the world health organization in march 2021. on 1 february, it was confirmed that uruguay would be supplied with the oxford–astrazeneca vaccines, and that with the first batch, 3% of the population would be vaccinated. distribution the first batch of 192,000 doses of coronavac arrived on 25 february 2021. vaccinations began on 1 march, being active workers, under 60, from the field of education, the institute for children and adolescents, the police, the armed forces, firefighters and customs officials of airports, ports and dry borders, the first to be inoculated. vaccinations were expanded to those between 55 and 59 years of age on 8 march 2021. the first batch of 50,000 pfizer–biontech vaccine arrived on 10 march 2021. vaccinations to healthcare personnel and prison population began on 12 march. on 16 march, vaccination began in nursing homes. on the same day a large batch of 1,558,000 doses of coronavac arrived. a day later, on 17 march, 51,000 doses of the pfizer–biontech vaccine arrived. vaccinations were expanded to those between 50 and 70 who reside in cities bordering brazil on 15 march 2021, to those of the same age group in the rest of the country on 18 march 2021, and to those over 80 on 22 march 2021. from march 29 to april 2, within a special period, 170,000 people between the ages of 18 and 70 were vaccinated. vaccinations became available to those between 70 and 79 on 10 april, to those between 18 and 30 on 1 june, to 12-17 year olds on 9 june 2021, and to those between 05 and 11 on 12 january 2022. a third vaccination for immunosuppressed people, and those vaccinated with coronavac was approved by the government on 28 july 2021. as of august 24, over 2,600,000 people (75% of the population) have received the first dose of the vaccine, and over 2,480,200 (70%) are fully vaccinated. statistics the charts show the development of the pandemic starting from 13 march 2020, representing changes in net number of cases on a daily basis, based on the number of cases reported in the national emergency system's daily reports. cumulative cases nationwide daily cases show daily cases show daily recovered show daily deaths medical care confirmed covid-19 cases in uruguay by department confirmed covid-19 cases in uruguay by department as of 27 august 2021. department confirmed cases recovered cases confirmed deaths montevideo 180,114 176,526 2,978 canelones 57,576 56,667 706 rivera 12,551 12,305 198 salto 15,190 14,846 302 maldonado 17,105 16,857 196 san josé 12,420 12,255 144 tacuarembó 11,479 11,312 164 paysandú 12,452 12,229 177 colonia 10,419 10,213 170 cerro largo 8,894 8,698 173 artigas 9,185 9,018 150 soriano 7,563 7,364 180 río negro 6,182 6,045 131 florida 5,898 5,816 79 durazno 4,332 4,247 76 rocha 4,803 4,714 73 treinta y tres 3,734 3,640 84 lavalleja 3,221 3,185 29 flores 1,413 1,393 16 total 384,531 377,330 6,026