Argentina reported a daily record of 429 deaths from Covid-19 on Monday, bringing the country’s fatalities to 13,482.
There were 8,782 new infections, according to the Health Ministry’s evening report. A total of 640,147 cases have been recorded since the pandemic began.
Of the new cases confirmed yesterday, the worst affected province was Buenos Aires with 3,700, followed by Santa Fe Province with 1,215, Córdoba with 770, Buenos Aires City with 678 and Mendoza with 599.
The figure for the capital was notable, given that it is the second-worst affected region to date. Earlier this month, porteños entered a new stage of quarantine, with restaurants and construction workers granted permission to return to something resembling normal activity.
Government officials said that there are 3,387 people currently hospitalised with the virus in intensive care units (ICUs) across the country. Nationwide, ICU bed occupancy stands at 60.3 percent, rising to 65.5 percent in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA).
In addition, the Health Ministry said that 18,575 tests had been carried out over the past 24 hours, with 1,765,069 in total now having taken place since the beginning of the outbreak, equivalent to 38,898.1 tests per one million inhabitants.
With near 650,000 infections, Argentina now sits tenth in the global ranking of worst affected nations, according to data collated by the Johns Hopkins University.
With 429 deaths, Monday was the worst day on record for fatalities, surpassing the previous one-day high of 382 recorded on August 24. Of the deaths recorded on Monday, 243 were men, while 186 women.
Speaking earlier in the day, prior to the release of the latest figures, Health Strategies Secretary Alejandro Costa said that over the past seven days, Argentina has registered a daily average of 10,833 cases, with an incidence rate of 1,391 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
As the latest figures were announced, officials from the national, city and provincial governments huddled at the Casa Rosada to discuss the ongoing coronavirus quarantine and the potential of relaxing restrictions in some districts in the AMBA region.
Among those in attendance were Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero, City Health Minister Fernán Quirós, provincial Health Minister Daniel Gollán and national Health Minister Ginés González García.
Last Friday, President Alberto Fernández ordered an extension of the lockdown until October 11. The following day, hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets in Buenos Aires to demand an end to the quarantine period and in rejection of controversial policies introduced by the administration.
Healthcare professionals, however, exhausted by more than six months of work battling the crisis, have appealed for caution and asking for greater responsibility from individuals, given that the number of infections and fatalities remains high.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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