Jakarta, Gatra.com – Argentina will do lockdown or a tight lockdown starting this weekend for the first time in 2021. Lockdown imposed after more than 35,000 coronavirus infections and the number of deaths that jumped in the past three days.
Reported from the news station Al Jazeera on Friday (21/5), the action will start from Saturday (22/5) to 31 May. The government limits mobilization and stops social activities, business, education, religion and sports. However, workers who have important jobs will be exempted from the action.
“We are experiencing the worst time since the pandemic began,” said Argentine President, Alberto Fernandez, in a message broadcast by the national TV channel on Thursday (20/5).
“We see the highest number of cases and deaths. We must take this critical situation seriously and not naturalize so many tragedies, “he added.
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Argentina imposed one of the longest quarantines between March and July, when it began to ease restrictions.
The negative effect of the lockdown is on the economy and national mood, which now leaves the government with little room to move. However, the combination of several doses of the vaccine and a variant of the more contagious virus has put Argentina’s health sector on the brink of collapse.
On Tuesday (18/5), the South American country topped its daily records of virus infections and deaths from Covid-19 with 35,543 new cases and 745 deaths. And the following days saw similarly high infection rates.
Overall, Argentina has seen 3.4 million confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 72,000 deaths, according to data compiled by the United States’ Johns Hopkins University. The spike occurred at a time when the number of positive cases was high in the region.
