entire town of tortel, are quarantined.the president and vice president of the chamber of deputies of chile using protective masks. 16 march: 81 new cases are confirmed in a single day, increasing the total to 156 confirmed cases. according to the definition of the health organization (who), the start of stage 4 of the pandemic begins, as president piñera announces the closure of "all land, sea and air borders (...) for the transit of foreign people". chilean nationals and permanent residents were allowed to enter after a mandatory 14-day quarantine. 17 march: a cluster of more than 20 cases is confirmed in chillán. the virus had spread due to direct and indirect interpersonal contact within a gymnasium. pedro edmunds paoa, mayor of easter island (rapa nui), announces that mataveri airport would close to avoid the virus reaching the isolated island. 18 march: the government issues a 90-day state of catastrophe in an attempt to take greater control of spread of the virus, effective at midnight. the state of catastrophe was ultimately renewed by the president for the entire year. 19 march: the first day with more than 100 cases confirmed, bringing the total to 342. the same day, the couple who were the first reported cases of covid-19 were deemed to have recovered, and were sent home to begin a post-recovery quarantine. 20 march: the mayors of las condes, la reina and vitacura declare a preventive quarantine for these sectors of the capital, where many confirmed cases of coronavirus had been recorded. 21 march: health minister jaime mañalich confirms the first death due to coronavirus infection in chile, an 83-year-old woman from santiago. 22 march: the number of total coronavirus cases reported reaches 632. a nationwide curfew is imposed between the hours of 22:00 and 5:00, while easter island (rapa nui) establishes a curfew from 14:00 to 5:00. 24 march: the first case in easter island (rapa nui) is reported, despite the measures taken days before. 25 march: the number of cases reaches 1,000. a total of 1,142 cases and 3 deaths are reported by the government. 26 march: lockdown is introduced in 7 communes of greater santiago (santiago, independencia, providencia, ñuñoa, las condes, vitacura, and lo barnechea). 27 march: lockdown is introduced in temuco and padre las casas (araucanía region) due to high increase on new cases. cases per population in selected countries. since may 2020, chile became one of the countries with the largest numbers of infected people in the world. april - may 19 april: in a cadena nacional, president piñera announces a gradual process to adapt to a "new normal", including reopening schools by may 2020 and the return of public workers to office. 29 april: minister jaime mañalich backs down on earlier plans for immunity certificates, saying they would launch "release certificates" not certifying immunity instead. no certificate is eventually launched. 30 april: joaquín lavín, mayor of las condes, reopens the first shopping center in santiago, which closes the following day. 15 may: quarantine is extended to the entire santiago metropolitan area. 28 may: the chilean government confirms a total of 86,943 cases, surpassing the number of official cases recorded in china, the source of the pandemic. june 2 june: the ministry of health changes the definition of active cases, reducing them to a third. according to the ministry, an active case is considered recovered 14 days after the start of symptoms and not since the detection of the virus, as it was considered before. the number of recovered cases disappears from the ministry's daily reports. 3 june: the ministry of health implements new criteria to consider a death as related or due to covid-19. the number of deaths the day before reaches a new maximum of 87 cases and a third of them (33) are incorporated due to the new criteria. 6 june: santiago metropolitan region surpasses 100,000 cases, while the number of deaths recorded reaches 1,184 cases in the region. 7 june: minister jaime mañalich announces that 653 additional deaths were not considered in previous reports and will be incorporated in the official reports in the following deaths. adding those cases to the 1,637 official cases, the number of deaths reaches 2,190 cases. 9 june: the government announces a new change in the method of counting fatalities, identifying the cases using text mining on the death certificates issued by the civil registry and identification service. although the new method identified more cases in the long term, it produced a lag in the daily reports. owing to the change in methodology, 19 new deaths are reported. 10 june: the first complete report with the new methodology for identifying deaths is released, including 192 cases. the number of confirmed cases reaches 148,496 people. 13 june: a report released by ciper informs the stastistics department of the ministry of health reported more than 5,000 deaths related to covid-19 to the world health organization, a smaller number than the number available in public reports. undersecretary paula daza confirms there was a parallel count including suspected cases but it was not available in a daily basis and was not official. minister jaime mañalich resigns and is replaced by enrique paris. 20 june: the ministry of health reports for the first time the number of suspected deaths related to covid-19, informed to the who. a total of 7,144 deaths were released by the department of statistics and health information (deis). however, the government confirmed this number won't be released daily, reporting only the cases with positive pcr tests and cataloged as "covid-19 related death" by the civil registry. an intensive care physician in santiago, chile. july - august 5 july: the total deaths due to covid-19 (including confirmed and suspected) surpasses the 10,000 mark according to the weekly deis report. 17 july: the ministry of health changes the criteria for counting deaths due to covid in their daily report. since that day, it uses only the data of confirmed deaths with positive pcr tests according to the deis report, replacing the former criteria based on the civil registry. the change includes 1,057 additional deaths. however, suspected deaths without available pcr testing will continue being released weekly. 18 july: the government announces the "paso a paso nos cuidamos" ("step by step we take care of ourselves") program with five different dynamic steps for lockdown lifting, establishing different restrictions to communes depending on the "step" they were: step 1, quarantine; step 2, transition (weekend quarantine); step 3, preparation; step 4, initial opening; and 5, advanced opening. 16 august: after 143 days, the government announces an end to the lockdown in the entire commune of santiago, the longest in the country at the moment. 19 august: punta arenas is declared under quarantine due to the increase in cases. the outbreak in the magallanes region became in the following months one of the worst in the country. october - december 25 october: the 2020 constitutional plebiscite is held with record turnout. several measures are taken to reduce exposure to the virus while people with a positive pcr test are not allowed to vote. 21 november: the number of covid-19 related deaths (confirmed and suspected) surpasses 20,000 cases. 17 december: after one of the worst covid-19 outbreaks is controlled, punta arenas is moved out of quarantine. 22 december: 36 cases are reported by the chilean army on the research base general bernardo o'higgins riquelme in the chilean antarctic territory. these are the first reported cases on the continent. 24 december: 10,000 doses of pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine, the first covid-19 vaccine approved in the country, arrive in santiago. a vaccination campaign is launched, focusing primarily on emergency health workers. this was the first dispatch of vaccines from a total of 10 million doses acquired by the chilean government from pfizer-biontech. 30 december: the government announces a special permit for holidays with exception of communes under step 1 (quarantine) restrictions. 2021 covid-19 vaccination program in santiago. january - february 20 january: the paso a paso programme is modified and theaters, circuses and cinemas are allowed to operate in communes in step 3 or above, although with reduced capacities. 3 february: after the initial program focusing on emergency health workers is completed, a mass vaccination program starts: 163,000 people were vaccinated, most over 90 years old, on the first day with coronavac produced by sinovac biotech. 19 february: despite initial restrictions, casinos are allowed to operate with exception of communes under step 1 restrictions. 20 february: the ministry of education confirms in-person school classes will start nationally on 1 march 2021 with face-to-face activities, even though several mayors and teachers' unions had public reservations with the announcement. march 4 march: all the communes of the greater concepción (the third largest metropolitan area of the country) are placed under quarantine. 8 march: quarantine is announced in la serena, coquimbo and valparaíso. 10 march: congress approves a 90-day extension of the state of catastrophe. because the constitution gives the president the power to declare the state of catastrophe for one year without congress approval, it was the first time sebastián piñera had to request formally the extension. 11 march: all communes on the santiago metropolitan region are declared under step 2 after a spike in cases, with more than 5,500 diagnoses in the country (the largest since june 2020). several modifications to the paso a paso program are reverted, strengthening restrictions under step 2 and reestablished 22:00 curfew. 14 march: the chilean government announces new changes to the paso a paso program, allowing religious ceremonies to be held in open and closed spaces. 18 march: quarantine is announced in iquique, viña del mar, santiago and several other communes. more than 9 million inhabitants will stay under total lockdown measures starting on 20 march 2021. 20 march: 7,084 cases are announced, the largest number of cases ever recorded in chile at the time. 24 march: the supreme court of chile declares that religious services cannot be restricted during lockdown due to freedom of religion. 25 march: the rest of the santiago metropolitan region is placed under phase 1 (quarantine). 28 march: president sebastián piñera announces a proposal to reform the constitution to move the local, regional and convention elections, originally scheduled for 10 and 11 april 2021, to 15 and 16 may 2021. 29 march: the institute of public health confirms cases of community transmission of the lineage b.1.1.7 (alpha) and lineage p.1 (gamma) variants of covid-19, and the first cases of the b.1.525 and b.1.526 variants are detected in tourists arriving at the country. april - may 1 april: the total number of cases surpasses 1 million. the government announces several changes to the restrictions in place: borders will be closed for 30 days, with some exceptions for returning nationals and residents; curfew will start at 21:00, one hour earlier than before; work permits in communes under quarantine will be restricted only for essential activities, limiting administrative, financial and consulting activities only to remote work; markets and supermarkets will be allowed to sell only essential goods like food, medicine, and hygiene products, while other stores like clothing will be closed. 23 may: the government announces a "mobility pass" for fully vaccinated individuals (those who have been injected with the complete dosage of their respective vaccines and after a 14-day period) that allows holders to circulate inside the country despite quarantines, with the exception of circulating during curfew. 30 may: the chilean medical college withdraws from the covid-19 social round table due to serious discrepancies with the government. the medical association declared that government actions have been approved despite rejection from the different members of the roundtable composed by experts of different areas. december 4 december: valparaíso's regional ministerial secretariat of health (seremi) reported the first case of the omicron variant in the country. seremi said the case was a traveler from ghana who had arrived in the country on 25 november 2021. 2022 28 march: the mayor of the patagonian town of chile chico announced the municipal council had decided to eliminate the mandatory use of face masks. this was soon contradicted by the local ministerial regional secretary (seremi) of the ministry of health who claimed nation-wide mandatory use was still in place. statistics main article: statistics of the covid-19 pandemic in chile daily report the following