Argentina announces strict coronavirus blockade among rising cases of Coronavirus pandemic News

Business, schools and social activities will be suspended from Saturday to May 31 as new COVID infections proliferate.

Argentina will enter a tight closure from this weekend, for the first time this year more than 35,000 coronavirus infections were reported for the third day in a row and the death toll has risen.

The measures will run from Saturday to May 31, and will limit traffic and social, business, educator, religious and sports activities. Employees with key jobs will be exempt from the measures.

“We are living in the worst moment since the pandemic started,” President Alberto Fernandez said in a message broadcast by the national television channel on Thursday. “We are seeing the highest number of cases and deaths. We need to take this serious situation seriously and not naturalize so much tragedy. “

When the pandemic began in 2020, Argentina imposed one of the longest quarantines between March and July, when it began to ease. restrictions. The negative effects of the blockade on the economy and the national environment left little room for the government to move now, but the combination of low vaccine doses and more contagious variants of the virus has put Argentina’s health care sector on the verge of collapse.

On Tuesday, the South American country surpassed the daily record of virus infections and COVID-19 deaths with 35,543 new cases and 745 deaths. Similar infection rates were observed in the following days.

Overall, Argentina has confirmed 3.4 million coronavirus infections and more than 72,000 deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

The rise is among the largest numbers in the region.

On Wednesday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said three out of five countries in the world the largest numbers of new infections are in the Americas: Brazil, the United States, and Argentina.

While the US infection rate is falling, thanks to significant progress in its vaccination campaign, rates are rising in Argentina sufficient supply dosien.

Argentine nurses are taking part in a march in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to protest working conditions [File: Matias Baglietto/Reuters]

According to our world data, 18% of the Argentine population has received at least one dose, comparable to Brazil, where infection rates are high.

Fernandez said that after May 31, pandemic measures will return to their current level: local monitoring from 8:00 pm to 6:00 pm and that social, recreational and commercial activities will be banned indoors. In addition, a strict closure will be mandatory on the weekend of June 5-6.

“It is essential that the rules dictated by the authorities in each jurisdiction be applied. There is no room for speculation or hesitation, ”Fernandez said, criticizing the governors for ensuring that the previously mandated measures are not complied with.

The President said that there will be financial support for the sectors affected by the new cuts and confirmed that in the next few days Sputnik V and AstraZeneca will have more than four million doses. vaccines will arrive.