RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina has the second-highest absolute number of confirmed infections in Latin America. According to the Ministry of Health, 190 deaths and 13,549 new infections were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
The National Ministry of Health reported that 190 deaths and 13,549 new infections with coronavirus were registered in the last 24 hours. With this data, the total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic has exceeded the five million mark. It now stands at 5,002,951; the total number of deaths is 107,213.
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Since the beginning of the outbreak, 19,991,213 diagnostic tests for the disease have been performed. From yesterday to today, 122,589 tests were performed, 11.05% of which were positive. To date, there are 250,580 active, positive cases and 4,645,158 recovered cases nationwide.
Of the total number of deaths reported today, 114 are men.
According to the epidemiological report, 3,657 persons with coronavirus are currently in the intensive care unit in Argentina. The percentage of bed occupancy is 52.4 at the national level and 58.3% in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).
On Friday morning, President Alberto Fernandez announced that the national government would implement a recovery plan that includes an increase in the second dose of COVID-19 in August. A new DNU will create progressive opportunities in travel, tourism, and outdoor mass events.
Among other things, starting tomorrow, the quota for the entry of Argentines from abroad will be increased. It is 1700 people per day, with secure corridors and collaboration with the provinces to control the isolation of those arriving in the country.
“We are in a phase of ongoing protection, where the enormous challenge is to complete the vaccination programs,” said Health Minister Carla Vizzotti, who, along with Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero, explained the details of the DNU. It is precisely the application of the second dose that is the authorities’ main objective for August.
“Our priority is to complete the programs, giving priority to people over 50 years old. In August, we will administer more than 7 million second doses. In addition, we will continue to administer the first doses to adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age, which have been prioritized,” said the president, who also stressed that 80 percent of those over 18 have already received at least one dose and 50 percent of those over 60 have gone through the complete vaccination schedule.
In this regard, this week, Argentina has reached the record number of second doses administered in a single day.
According to the latest data released yesterday by Monitor, part of the Ministry of Health, 241,823 people were vaccinated with the second component last Wednesday. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in the national territory, this is the maximum number of applications to fulfill the scheme of two vaccinations in a single day.
According to the Public Vaccination Monitor, 33,825,576 of the 38,572,954 vaccines distributed had been administered by dawn Friday. So far, 25,840,629 people have received the first dose, and another 7,984,947 have the full vaccination schedule.
Vizzotti reported that about 12.5 million vaccines would arrive in August. “There will be 8 million Sinopharm and 3.5 million AstraZeneca, in addition to the 200,000 CanSino that arrived today and the other 200,000 that will arrive in August.