The latest tally of Covid-19 cases among Codelco workers shows why the world’s biggest copper producer is stepping up measures to contain the spread.
Of the state-owned company’s 71 000 total workforce, 1 951 people have been diagnosed with the disease, according to data compiled by the Federation of Copper Workers union. Santiago-based Codelco declined to comment on those figures.
The El Teniente mine in central Chile has been hardest hit with 664 cases through Thursday, followed by Chuquicamata in the north with 473, the Federation data show. Based on those numbers, the company-wide infection rate has risen to 2.7%. Chilean Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica said in Thursday that the industry-wide rate in Chile was about 1%.