Swine Flu In Chile Prompts Crackdown At Religious Celebration

A religious celebration in Chile's town of La Tirana, which draws huge crowds for the festivities, will have authorities on alert this year. The Chilean government is cracking down for health reasons in the region as 35 people have died from a new outbreak of AH1N1, or swine flu, in the country. Twelve of those deaths were centralized in the La Tirana region. Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said there have been 430 cases of the illness this year.

Around 250,000 people are expected to arrive in the region for the festival July 16. The town typically only has a population of a few hundred. Authorities told Before It's News that the expected attendance of the celebration will drop to somewhere between 150,000 to 170,000. Mañalich said that all who attend the festival must be vaccinated in order to enter.

"The epidemic in the Tarapaca region is technically under control, as shown by the falling numbers of visits to doctors' offices and to the hospital in Iquique," he said.

He said this is part of an effort to vaccinate all 22,000 people who live in the area. Chile has enough of the immunization to vaccinate all residents and those traveling for the festival.