国际英语资讯:COVID-19 cases continue to rise in LatAm, measures taken to prevent spread_时事

国际英语资讯:COVID-19 cases continue to rise in LatAm, measures taken to prevent spread

In Chile, its Health Ministry said four new patients were identified in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 17 in the country.

"We continue to be in Phase 2, that is when cases are imported or spread within the country by the imported cases," the Health Ministry's undersecretary of assistance networks, Arturo Zuniga, said at a press conference.

Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said anyone arriving from Spain and Italy, the two European countries with high rates of infection, must remain in quarantine at home for up to two weeks to determine whether they have the virus or not.

"They will be given medical leave if needed" to be absent from work without being penalized by employers, Manalich told reporters.

Costa Rica said its number of cases has reached 13 after four more cases were detected, including two kids and two adult males. The new cases are linked to a prior patient currently in the hospital.

In Peru, officials confirmed two new cases, raising the total to 11 in the country. Health Minister Elizabeth Hinostroza said the new patients are two brothers from the central Huanuco region who recently returned from a trip to Europe.

Paraguay's Health Ministry reported its second confirmed case of the coronavirus: an elderly patient, 83, who recently arrived from Argentina.

Meanwhile, the Argentine government announced it was earmarking 1.7 billion pesos (27 million U.S. dollars) to better combat the coronavirus, which has so far infected 17 people and led to one death in the country.