Peru surpasses 200,000 coronavirus infections: health ministry
Peru emerged due to a worldwide COVID-19 hotspot on Tuesday as medical ministry registered a lot more than 200,000 cases, ranking the South American country due to the eighth-highest in the world by number of infections.
The death toll rose to 5,738 and the full total number of infections climbed to 203,736, an increase of more than 4,000 cases from the prior day.
The ministry said 167 people had died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
The figures show Peru as second and then Brazil as Latin America’s worst-affected country by number of overall cases, and third after Brazil and Mexico regarding deaths.
The economy, one of the region’s highest performing until February, has largely ground to a halt throughout a 12-week lockdown ordered by President Martin Vizcarra.
Textile unions have demanded the federal government begin checking the industry so production and exports may resume.
Peru’s GDP contracted by 3.4 percent in the first quarter of 2020.
The country’s first case was detected on March 6 and Vizcarra declared a compulsory national confinement 10 days later on, shuttering borders and imposing nighttime curfews.
