Argentina registers 281 deaths from coronavirus, the highest figure in five months

Argentina reported this Monday 281 daily deaths from COVID-19, the highest figure for a single day since last August 17, when 300 deaths were registered throughout the country, official sources reported.

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, the South American country raised the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 119,444.

During the last 24 hours, 78,121 new cases were also registered, bringing the total number of positives to 7,940,657.

Meanwhile, the positivity rate reported on this day for the country as a whole was 66.8%, since 116,841 tests were carried out throughout the national territory.

According to official figures, there are 6.9 million people who were infected and have already been discharged, while the number of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of covid-19 who remain admitted to intensive care units was this Monday of 2,592, growing in recent weeks, but below the maximum peak of 7,969 on June 14.

The percentage of bed occupancy in intensive care units for all types of pathologies is 47.9% at the national level and 46.9% if only Buenos Aires and its outskirts are considered.

After months of a favorable epidemiological situation, last October the Argentine government relaxed most of the health restrictions in force until then, including the total opening of the borders.

However, cases began to rise again from November and took a dizzying pace in the last weeks of December, giving rise to a third wave of covid-19 in the country.

For this reason, the Argentine government imposed from January 1 the use of the health pass, which will require proof of complete vaccination schemes to be able to attend activities considered to be of “epidemiological risk”, such as massive events outdoors or in closed spaces.

Meanwhile, Argentina, with some 45 million inhabitants, continues with its vaccination campaign against the coronavirus that began at the end of 2020.

According to official data from the health portfolio, so far 84.9 million doses have been applied and another 95.8 million have been distributed, of which more than 5 million were donated.

More than 39.3 million people received the first dose of the vaccine, while 34.4 million were already inoculated with the second.

Likewise, 2.9 million Argentines have received an additional dose (when the initial immune response is probably insufficient) and another 8.1 million received a booster dose or third dose, within the framework of the vaccination strategy initiated in October to strengthen the immunity of various groups.