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ARGENTINA | 02-04-2020 09:10

Chilean Consul in Rosario dies from coronavirus

Fernando Labra Hidalgo died at a private hospital in the Sante Fe city after having been hospitalised for several days, according to an official statement.

The Chilean consul in Rosario, Fernando Labra Hidalgo, has died after having been infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Labra Hidalgo died at a private hospital in the Sante Fe city after having been hospitalised for several days, according to an official statement.

His case was included in the Health Ministry's daily report, which said five fatalities had been registered this Wednesday in total, lifting the death toll to 32 out of 1,133 infected.

The consul "died at 15:30 [local time] as a result of a multi-organ failure," a source at the Parque de Rosario sanatorium, 310 kilometres north of Buenos Aires, told the local newspaper La Capital.

Labra Hidalgo is the first fatal victim of the coronavirus in the city of Rosario, where 1.2 million people live.

Foreign Minister Felipe Solá has conveyed the Argentine government's condolences to his Chilean counterpart, Teodoro Ribera Neumann, a statement said.

Ribera Neumann said that the Chilean consul had been hospitalised in isolation since last Saturday and had entered a "delicate state" for his health.

Labra Hidalgo, 65, was a career diplomat, spending 32 years in the Chilean foreign service. His death was confirmed by the Chilean Foreign Ministry in a statement, which said the country "deeply regretted his loss." No cause of death was specified. 

"I deeply regret the death of my friend Fernando Labra, Consul General in Rosario, the first Chilean diplomat victim of the coronavirus," Heraldo Muñoez, president of the Party for Democracy (PPD) and Chile's former foreign minister tweeted.

"I knew him for 30 years. A career official, with democratic ideas, he was always a professional above all. He will be missed," he added. 

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