SANTIAGO, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chilean Ministry of Health reported on Friday that the country has registered 9,252 cases of COVID-19, with 116 deaths.

Chilean Vice Minister of Health Paula Daza said that 3,621 people have recovered from the virus.

The ministry's undersecretary of assistance networks, Arturo Zuniga, told a press conference that 385 patients are currently in intensive care units, 316 of whom are on ventilators, with 97 in critical condition.

The undersecretary said that there are currently 579 ventilators available in the public-private health network, distributed in hospitals across the country, and that the goal is to increase the number of ventilators to 3,315 in the near future.

Zuniga added that there are 727 health workers in quarantine, while a "significant number of health workers have completed their quarantines and have returned to work."

The Chilean government ordered this week the mandatory use of face masks in elevators and public spaces where there are more than 10 people, such as supermarkets. Schools, cinemas, restaurants, shopping centers and other venues remain closed.