Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Perfil

ARGENTINA | 19-10-2020 22:32

Argentina surprasses one million Covid-19 infections

Health Ministry’s evening update reports more than 12,000 new infections in 24 hours, pushing Argentina past the one-million mark. Country now accounts for roughly 2.5 percent of all confirmed cases worldwide.

Argentina surpassed one million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Monday, becoming only the fifth country to do so since the global pandemic began.

The novel coronavirus has now infected more than 40 million people across the world, with Argentina now accounting for around 2.5 percent of the total.

For confirmed cases, the nation ranks fifth behind the United States, India, Brazil and Russia, though those countries have far larger populations.

The one-million landmark was reached after the Health Ministry confirmed 12,982 new infections in its evening update on Monday. In total, Argentina has recorded 1,002,662 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

Officials also said that 451 fatalities had been recorded over the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 26,716.

The latest figures continue to indicate that the virus is on a downward curve in the Bueno Aires metropolitan area (AMBA), with numbers on the rise in other regions, which now account for around 65 percent of new cases. Provincial governments in Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza and Tucumán are on red alert, with numbers surging.

As of Monday evening, 4,392 people with Covid-19 are currently hospitalised in intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide, with bed occupancy at 64 percent.

Of the recorded infections to date, around half a million correspond to Buenos Aires Province, with just over 140,000 in the capital, Buenos Aires City. Santa Fe, Córdoba, Tucumán and Mendoza are the next worst affected.

The majority of new infections are now being detected outside of Buenos Aires and its periphery, which is home to a third of the country's 44 million inhabitants.

"There are multiple epidemics that are very different in their evolution," said Omar Sued, president of the Argentine Society of Epidemiology,.

"The evolution that exists today in Córdoba, for example, is very different from that of Buenos Aires, which is on a plateau and in decline."

There are travel restrictions within the country, but no provinces are under strict quarantine. Stay-at-home orders were imposed in Buenos Aires early in the outbreak, but have since been lifted.

Schools across the country have used online teaching since March, but those in the capital have been gradually returning to normal this month.

The classes will be held in open courtyards and in a "bubble" of 10 pupils per group to prevent any outbreak from spreading beyond the circle, school authorities said.

– TIMES/PERFIL

Comments

More in (in spanish)