Towards the end of last year, there were a few reports of some people suffering from respiratory issues and later it was identified as being highly infectious. With passage of time, these reports began increasing rapidly and the number of people being infected, was multiplying very fast. This began in China but soon the reports were coming in from different parts of the world. By February of this year, it was known that this COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus, had been spreading rampantly and it was declared a Pandemic. The number of people being infected by this Virus began increasing exponentially and the number of lives being lost to it, also began to go up alarmingly. All the countries moved into lockdown mode and all the countries in the world had been affected.... almost!

All this while, Antartica remained the one continent that had not been affected by the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus. The deadly virus had not entered the ice-capped continent but has broken through there too, now! The Chilean military has given out the unfortunate news that 36 Chileans in Antartica have tested positive for the Corona Virus. All these infections have been reported from the Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme base, in Antartica. These 36 infected people include 26 army personnel and 10 civilian contractors handling maintenance work at the base. This base is one of 13 operated by Chile and is said to be a far way away from the closest buildings, the three Australian research stations.

A report from the Chilean Army said that the base personnel have already been properly isolated and being constantly monitored by the authorities in Magallanes, located in Chilean Patagonia. No complications have been reported among any of the infected people, as yet! An army official has stated that the first cases were reported in mid-December, when two soldiers had contracted the Virus. The Magallanes region in Chile, is one of the closest regions to Antartica which is populated. This region works as the take-off point for many boats and planes headed to Antartica and is also one of the regions in Chile, worst hit by the COVID-19. Recently, Chile's Navy also reported that it had detected 3 cases of COVID among the 208 crew members of a ship that had sailed to Antartica between November 17th and December 10th! Stay tuned for updates...