Argentina surpasses 40,000 deaths from Covid-19

Argentina surpassed the grim landmark of 40,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, a reminder that the novel coronavirus is still a potent threat in the country.

As of Tuesday evening, the country had recorded 40,009 fatalities, with the number of confirmed cases rising close to 1.5 million.

According to Health Ministry data, a total of 1,469,906 infections have been recorded since the first outbreak of the virus in March. Of those, 1.3 million have recovered.

Over the preceding 24 hours, 121 deaths and 3,610 new cases were registered, officials said, a sharp drop from five-digit figures recorded a few months ago.

Numbers have subsided in recent weeks, a move that persuaded the authorities to relax restrictions and move to a new phase of social distancing, in contrast to strict isolation measures put in place at the height of the pandemic.

The government has allowed the restart of domestic and international tourism as from this month, though with strict sanitary measures and health protocols.

– TIMES/AFP