QUITO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador and Colombia have witnessed a surge in infections and deaths from COVID-19, registering 274 and 108 daily new cases on Tuesday respectively.
As of Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases reached 2,240, including 75 deaths, in Ecuador, one of the South American nations hardest-hit by COVID-19.
In the past 24 hours, 274 new cases were confirmed, and 13 patients died. Another 61 deaths were likely caused by COVID-19 but needed to be verified, said Julio Lopez, an official from Ecuador's Public Health Ministry, at a press conference.
Ecuador is seeing an exponential rise in infections, and the virus has now spread to all 24 provinces of the country, he added.
Colombia reported 108 new infections and two deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 906, and the death toll to 16.
Health Minister Fernando Ruiz said Colombia was transitioning from a phase of containing the spread of the virus to a phase of mitigating the outbreak.
"So far we have gone at an adequate pace. It's no victory, but we have achieved levels of containment that flatten the curve and allow us to treat people under better circumstances," said Ruiz.
