Nine staff infected with Covid-19 evacuated from Argentina’s Antarctic research base

The unvaccinated workers at the La Esperanza base, all of whom are asymptomatic, were airlifted to Buenos Aires as a precaution

Previously, Covid-19 cases were reported at a Belgian research station in the icy continent last December

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Argentina’s La Esperanza base in Antarctic. File photo: AFP

Published: 1:45pm, 21 Jan 2022

For the first time since the start of the pandemic the coronavirus has reached an Argentine research base in Antarctica, causing the evacuation of nine unvaccinated staff who tested positive for Covid-19, an official said on Thursday.

Twenty-four of the 43 scientists and military personnel at Argentina’s La Esperanza base have been infected, Patricia Ortuzar of the government’s National Directorate of the Antarctic said.

Nine of the 24, who have no symptoms, were evacuated to Buenos Aires by helicopter as a precaution.

They had been in Antarctica since before the start of Argentina’s vaccination campaign in 2021, and were due to travel to the capital to be jabbed.

They had decided to wait to get their shots in Argentina, fearing having to deal with possible side effects in the extreme environment that is Antarctica.

Previously, Covid-19 cases were reported at a Belgian research station in the icy continent in December 2021.

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