SANTIAGO, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chile registered 2,515 new COVID-19 cases and eight related deaths in the past 24 hours, for a total of 3,535,534 confirmed cases and 57,283 deaths since the onset of the pandemic, the Health Ministry said Wednesday.

       In its daily pandemic report, the ministry said the positivity rate for the disease in the 24-hour period was 4.55 percent nationally and 5.91 percent in the central Santiago Metropolitan region.

       There are some 8,003 active COVID-19 cases, with 305 people hospitalized in intensive care units, including 217 on mechanical ventilators, the ministry said.

       Infections in Chile have declined by 52 percent in two weeks as vaccination against COVID-19 continues, including two booster shots for everyone over three years of age.