Argentina exceeds 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 virus amid economic crisis

Sandra del Valle Pereira, 50, visits the graves of her parents who died of Covid-19, in the epidemic that devastated the South American nation, at the São Vicente Cemetery in Cordoba, Argentina.

“I was left alone,” Valle Pereira told Reuters, saying she and her siblings are isolated from each other to avoid infection. “First my mom died, then my dad. I don’t know how to feel about this terrible disease anymore.”

Argentina is one of the most affected countries in the region in terms of the number of infections and deaths per capita, as it recorded 4.7 million injuries and the total deaths from the epidemic exceeded 100,000 on Wednesday.

Average daily cases are down from last month’s peak, and the intensive care bed occupancy rate is down, although it still remains above 60% nationwide.

“Every life that has passed is a great sadness for me,” President Alberto Fernandez said in a speech last week. “I guarantee that in these months we will not stop to vaccinate every Argentine and every Argentine.”

While developed countries such as the United States have reduced deaths through rapid immunization programmes, other South American countries top the rankings of daily deaths and cases per capita, with vaccine distribution hampered by low supply.

Argentina, a country of about 45 million people, applied 25.7 million doses of the vaccine, although only 5 million received the two doses, mostly from Sputnik in Russia, and AstraZeneca and Sinopharm, from China.

The distribution of vaccines raises hopes that the state will be able to control the epidemic, but the more dangerous alternative Delta causes a rise in cases even in countries with high vaccination rates, such as Israel, prompting them to rethink their campaigns.

The pandemic is exacerbating an economic crisis already underway in Argentina, which has essentially been stuck in a recession since 2018, with runaway inflation, tight capital controls and a weak currency causing dollars to flee.

“It’s not just the epidemic that is engulfing us in this country. There is also a huge economic crisis,” said Gaston Rosicci, 34, who is part of the Cordoba firefighting team responsible for transporting the dead during the pandemic.