Argentina becomes fifth country to cross 1 million virus cases

Reuters | Published: October 20, 2020 15:19:15 | Updated: October 21, 2020 16:56:49

Kinesiologist Maria Luz Porra puts on a face shield before checking patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in an intensive care unit of a hospital, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 16, 2020 — Reuters photo

Argentina has become the fifth country in the world to exceed one million coronavirus cases, its health ministry said on Monday, making it the smallest nation by far to reach the grim milestone after infections accelerated in recent weeks.

There were 1,002,662 confirmed cases of the virus in the South American country by Monday night, the ministry said in a statement.

In the past 24 hours, there were 12,982 new cases reported and 451 more deaths, it added.