Virus surge continues: 10,684 new cases and 262 fatalities

The Health Ministry confirmed another 10,684 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus at press time yesterday, as total infections in Argentina since the start of the pandemic soared past 450,000.

Officials also confirmed the deaths of 262 individuals over the past 24 hours, lifting the death toll to 9,623.

Those numbers mean that Argentina now sits among the top 10 nations in the world in terms of confirmed cases, while ranking 16th (after displacing Germany) on the list of countries with the highest numbers of fatalities.

Given the growth in figures over the past seven days – last Friday, the country had 392,009 cases and 8,271 deaths – Argentina is likely to pass two grim milestones in the next week: 500,000 infections and 10,000 deaths.

Of the confirmed cases registered on Friday, 5,862 were in Buenos Aires Province. The nation’s most-populous region has played host to more than 283,000 of Argentina’s total infections. By way of contrast, Buenos Aires City recorded 1,278 new cases, lifting its overall tally to 101,034. The next most affected regions on Friday were Santa Fe (713 new cases, with 10,806 in total), Mendoza (653, 8,801 in total) and Córdoba (498, 10,341 in total).

The data provided by the Health Ministry’s daily update also revealed that bed occupancy in intensive care units (ICUs) stood at 61.5 percent nationwide, rising to 68.2 percent in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area (AMBA).

This week, healthcare professionals warned that intensive care units were under great stress across the country, with some warning the health system may be creeping towards saturation.

– TIMES