Argentina surpasses three million Covid-19 infections

Argentina surpassed three million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, after the Health Ministry reported more than 11,000 infections.

In total, the country has now registered 3,005,259 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with a death toll of 64,252 deaths, following 156 new fatalities. 

Argentina now has an infection rate of 5,500 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the Americas, according to AFP.

Amid shortages of Covid-19 vaccines internationally, President Alberto Fernández's government has so far managed to acquire 9.8 million doses, of which around eight million have already been given.

Last Friday, Fernández extended an exiting 8pm to 6am curfew, except for essential workers, for another three weeks until May 21, as Argentina struggles to cope with a Covid-19 second wave. 

The Peronist leader also slapped a ban for in-person classes at schools in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA) for the same period, while ordering commercial activity to cease each night at 7pm, with the exception of bars and restaurants for delivery purposes only. Theatres, cinemas, gyms, casinos, nightclubs and large shopping centres also remain shuttered.

– TIMES/AFP