BUENOS AIRES: For lawyer Lidia Alverisi, Argentina’s COVID-19 pandemic has taken an almost unbearable toll.
“We have all lost someone, someone we knew well,” she told Reuters. “In my case, it’s been friends I’ve known for 40 years who were gone in just 10 days.”
The South American country is engulfed in a second wave of the virus that started in mid-February and is pushing hospitals close to saturation point and its citizens to despair.
By late on Friday, Argentina had confirmed 80,411 deaths among its 45 million citizens from the disease, with a total 3.9 million cases.
At present it ranks the third-highest in the world for average daily cases, with more total recorded per capita cases than regional giant Brazil.
The government has struggled to find a balance between lockdowns and keeping the already embattled economy going, as well as driving a vaccine campaign that was slow to start and medics say won’t manage to drive down infection rates for several months.
“I think deaths could have been avoided if the government had focused more on vaccines and if people had respected the lockdowns more,” said student Martina Dawin, 17.
Others however, think the government’s priority should have been shielding people from more economic hardship after three straight years of recession.
Diego Peralta said he had voted for Argentina´s leftist President Alberto Fernandez but had lost faith because of the extended lockdowns. “I feel bad for my fellow citizens going through a bad time, but COVID-19 is secondary when there’s no food to give your child,” he said.
Argentina is inoculating its citizens against COVID-19 with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines, the AstraZeneca jab developed with Oxford University and Chinese-made Sinopharm.
Since the campaign started on Christmas Eve last year, the country has carried out 13.4 million inoculations, though only around 3 million people have received the full double dose.
Argentina’s health minister Carla Vizzotti insisted that although the number of deaths remained alarming, the decline in the number of over 60s, who received vaccines first, among them was a sign the country was moving in the right direction.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Roberto Debbag said there was still some way to go.
“We will have high or medium-high numbers until more than 30 or 40 percent of the population has been vaccinated with two doses,” he said. “I don’t think that will happen in the space of the next three months.”
With over 80,000 dead, Argentines struggle under weight of COVID-19
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With over 80,000 dead, Argentines struggle under weight of COVID-19
- Argentina is engulfed in a second coronavirus wave that started mid-February and is pushing hospitals close to saturation point
- Late Friday, Argentina had confirmed 80,411 deaths among its 45 million citizens
South Korea calls for resuming dialogue with North
- President Lee Jae Myung has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North since taking office in June
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul
SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called on Sunday for dialogue with North Korea to resume, after Pyongyang last week shunned the prospect of diplomacy with its neighbor.
Since taking office in June, a dovish Lee has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North, which reaffirmed its anti-Seoul approach during a party meeting last week.
“As my administration has repeatedly made clear, we respect the North’s system and will neither engage in any type of hostile acts, nor pursue any form of unification by absorption,” Lee said in a speech marking the anniversary of a historical campaign against Japan’s colonial rule.
“We will also continue our efforts to resume dialogue with the North,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, describing its overtures as “clumsy, deceptive farce and a poor work.”
Speaking at the party congress in Pyongyang, Kim said North Korea has “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity, and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots.”
But he also said the North could “get along well” with the United States if Washington acknowledges its nuclear status.
Speculation has mounted over whether US President Donald Trump will seek a meeting with Kim during planned travels to China.
Last year, Trump said he was “100 percent” open to a meeting.
Previous Trump-Kim summits during the US president’s first term fell apart after the pair failed to agree over sanctions relief — and what nuclear concessions North Korea might make in return.
