MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First Covid-19 death in Latin America; twelve positive cases in Argentina

The patient, who suffered kidney failure, had a history of diabetes, hypertension and bronchitis before being infected with the virus, a statement said

A 64-year-old man died in Argentina as a result of the Covid-19, the first such death in Latin America, health authorities announced Saturday. The Ministry of Health said the patient lived in Buenos Aires and had been confirmed with COVID-19 after coming down with a cough, fever and sore throat following a recent trip to Europe.

The patient, who suffered kidney failure, had a history of diabetes, hypertension and bronchitis before being infected with the virus, a statement said. He had been in intensive care since being admitted to a public hospital on Wednesday.

Officials said the man was not one of the eight confirmed COVID-19 cases previously reported for Argentina, but his case was confirmed by tests on Saturday. Research is underway to determine who the patient had been in contact with, authorities said.

On Sunday Argentina reported that three more cases confirmed positive for coronavirus out of 28 tests, which means the country now has twelve cases, all of them imported. Two in the City of Buenos Aires and one in the Buenos Aires province. One of them is a 71-year old Italian from Parma visiting relatives in Argentina, the other a 56 year old woman and finally a young man recently returned from Boston where he was supposed to attend a corporate conference, finally cancelled.

Argentine Health minister Ginés Gonzalez García said that so far Argentina has no Covid-19 cases of local contagion, all patients confirmed positive arrived in the country from overseas travel.

Elsewhere in Latin America, officials in Peru announced five new cases of COVID-19 infection on Saturday, raising the country's total to six. Paraguay reported its first case, and Chile said it now had seven confirmed cases, up from five.

Costa Rica's Health Ministry confirmed four new cases of coronavirus, in addition to that of a case involving an American woman announced on Friday. Her husband was among the new cases.

Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia also have reported confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. According to the latest official World Health Organization data, there are more than 101,000 infected worldwide and more than 3,400 deaths.