The country’s health ministry said, “there are 12,982 new infections in the past 24 hours. Which pushes the overall number to 1,002,662,”.
It also reported 451 new deaths, bringing the nation’s toll to 26,716.
Argentina is one of the smallest nation with a population of about 45 millions to have surpassed the one million mark.
It follows the US, India, Brazil and Russia – all of whom have far bigger populations.
Tracking the global Coronavirus outbreak.
In South America, Argentina was one of the first countries to close its borders and impose other restrictions.
Despite many measures remaining in place, the outbreak has intensified in the past few months – especially in Buenos Aires province.
More than 40 million cases have been recorded around the world, with over 1.1 million deaths.
Initially Argentina had registered low number of cases but now the scenario has changed and Argentina is one of the highest rates of new daily infections per capita, according to Our World in Data, a non-profit online scientific publication based at the University of Oxford. It is on par with several European countries that are experiencing a resurgence of the virus.
Dr. Adolfo Rubinstein, a former Argentine health minister, said the nation depended too heavily on lockdowns as its primary means of controlling the virus, failing to purchase enough tests in the initial months of the pandemic.
Where the virus is appearing is also shifting. Initially, up to 90% of the confirmed cases were in metropolitan Buenos Aires. Today, 65% of Argentina?s cases are in its provinces and even faraway places like Ushuaia, authorities said.
“Now it is everywhere in the country,? Rubinstein said.
Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, director of the Americas branch of the World Health Organization, warned recently that the coronavirus is appearing in places that were previously not affected, with high numbers popping up in regions like the English-speaking Caribbean.
“In many countries, the pandemic has also moved to less populated areas,? she said.