Argentina had a new record of coronavirus infections, with 81,210 new cases registered on Tuesday. That’s the highest number of infections in the neighboring country since the start of the pandemic, and a rate much higher than the 50,000 cases reported last Thursday, the previous record. The country recorded 49 deaths by Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours.
Another data that worries Argentine authorities in the third wave of infections is the positive rate of coronavirus tests, which reached 52.44% on Tuesday. This means that more than half of the Argentines who went to test themselves were infected.
As in other regions of the world, the new wave of infections in Argentina has not been accompanied by a proportional increase in severe cases of the disease. Hospitalizations and deaths for Covid-19 are below those recorded during the second wave in the country, reports the local press.
The most affected region is the province of Buenos Aires, which for the first time reported nearly 30,000 cases of Covid-19. The province’s previous record was 17,759 last week.
Buenos Aires Province Health Minister Nicolás Kreplak said there was a 2100% increase in new Covid-19 cases in seven weeks in his district. By comparison, during the second wave, the increase was 400% in eight weeks.
“This is due to the fact that we have a very important circulation of the omicron variant, but also to a social mobilization that makes us have one of the most important summers on record in our country,” said Kreplak, referring to the tourist season in the parents.
However, the minister assured that, despite the numbers, there are no plans to implement new measures to reduce circulation. “As long as we don’t have an increase in hospitalizations or deaths, we are not going to take restrictive measures. We will see. Everything depends on the tension on the detention system,” he said, according to the local newspaper Infobae.
The Argentine government’s estimate is that the peak of contagions will occur in late January, and that cases will begin to decrease thereafter.
The minister of Health of the Argentine capital, Fernán Quirós, defended on Tuesday the release of self-tests for coronaviruses, as the lines for testing in health centers are long.
omicron variant
Argentine Health Ministry Chief of Staff Sonia Tarragona confirmed on Tuesday that some provinces in the country are already registering community circulation of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and that an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases is expected soon due to the holiday season.
Tarragona explained, in an interview with local radio, that Argentina tried to postpone the entry of the delta variant until it had a high percentage of vaccination, but the arrival of the omicron affected the level of contagion.
“We have a very high number of cases, although hospitalizations (in intensive care) and deaths have shown a different behavior from previous waves,” he said.
In Argentina there are 332,806 active cases of Covid-19 at the moment (people who have been diagnosed and have not yet been discharged). Also according to official data, 1,218 people are in intensive care.
The percentage of intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy for all types of pathologies on Monday was 35.8% nationwide.
As of Tuesday, the total number of Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in Argentina was 5,820,536, with 117,294 deaths.
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