Argentina surpasses 1 million COVID cases as smaller cities see spikes
Argentina has surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases, with smaller cities housing some of the most prominent spikes.
The South American nation achieved the grim milestone Monday, when at least 60% of people tested positive, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Other countries in Latin America including Colombia, Mexico and Peru are anticipated to surpass the same threshold in coming weeks. Of the 10 nations with the highest case numbers worldwide, Latin America is home to half.
Though Argentina can take credit for one of the world’s longest lockdowns, the country never even completed what has been deemed the first wave of the pandemic.
“The second wave is arriving without ever having finished the first,” said University of the Andes in Colombia public health professor Dr. Luis Jorge Hernández.
Per capita, Argentina is experiencing one of the highest rates of new cases daily, making it comparable to European nations also seeing new spikes, according to the nonprofit University of Oxford-based publication Our World in Data.
Rather than preparing by purchasing enough tests early in the outbreak, former Argentine health minister Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein said the country relied too heavily on its lockdowns to control the spread.
“Now it is everywhere in the country,” Rubinstein said of the disease.
Previously, authorities said the capital of Buenos Aires was responsible for up 90% of Argentina’s cases, whereas now, 65% of the country’s infections are based in provinces, even those far from metropolitan life like Ushuaia. The city is known as “The End of the World” and was previously virus-free for months.
“The failure in Argentina was the low amount of testing,” said Ushuaia Regional Hospital director Dr. Carlos Guglielmi.
With News Wire Services
