MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina confirms 8,713 new cases of Covid-19 and 381 deaths in the last 24 hours

The announcement comes after thousands of Argentines participated last Monday in a march calling for the restrictions to be lifted and stalled economic activity restarted

Argentina confirmed a record 8,713 new cases of coronavirus on Monday and 381 resulting deaths in just 24 hours, as the country battles a surge of contagions. The country's health ministry said that just weeks into a stricter quarantine in the capital Buenos Aires and its suburbs, cases were now springing up in other regions of the country.

It put the total caseload at over 350,000, with 7,366 deaths so far.

The announcement comes after thousands of Argentines participated last Monday in a march calling for the restrictions to be lifted and stalled economic activity restarted.

Argentina has spent the past two years already mired in a serious economic crisis with recession, high inflation and soaring poverty, ills now deepened by the pandemic. Previous to that Argentina suffered years of stagnation since 2012.

The health ministry said on Tuesday that occupancy of intensive care beds is at 57.3% nationwide and 64.5% for the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. To date, Argentina's number of cases and deaths have been fewer than those of neighbors such as Brazil, Chile and Peru.