Chile’s Presidential Race Goes Virtual With 6 Candidates in Quarantine

(Bloomberg) -- Almost two weeks before Chile’s presidential election, one of the candidates has contracted Covid-19, sending five of his opponents into quarantine and forcing campaigning to go virtual.

Gabriel Boric must remain isolated for 10 days after testing positive, while rivals Sebastian Sichel, Eduardo Artes, Yasna Provoste, Marco Enriquez-Ominami and Jose Antonio Kast have to quarantine for seven days.

Former student leader Boric had led polls, but is now being challenged by the rise of conservative candidate Kast, with two recent surveys showing Kast beating Boric in the second round of voting.

The quarantine measures may force congress to delay votes on a bill to allow a fourth round of pension fund withdrawals, originally set for Nov. 9, and another on the impeachment process for President Sebastian Pinera. 

The government has identified 54 people that were with Boric during the last few days, who will also need to isolate, said Helga Balich, regional secretary of the Ministry of Health.

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