MEXICO CITY, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Latin American countries on Tuesday announced a series of new measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, as they struggle to deal with more cases and deaths.
Mexican Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said the country was entering "phase 3" of the outbreak, which is expected to see a peak in infections and hospital admissions over the next few weeks.
"Today we want to announce the start of phase 3 of the COVID-19 epidemic, noting that we are at the stage of a rapid increase, where there will be a large number of cases, of infections and hospitalizations," Lopez-Gatell said at a press conference.
Mexico's General Health Council unanimously approved an extension of the lockdown through May 30, from the initial April 30 deadline, so the number of new infections will be "as small as possible," according to Lopez-Gatell.
As part of nationwide social distancing measures, schools and all non-essential businesses have closed, with most restaurants open for take-out only, and parks and other public venues have been cordoned off.
In Mexico, 8,772 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the first case was detected on Feb. 28, with 712 deaths from the disease, according to the latest report issued late Monday.
In Ecuador, where the number of cases has reached 10,398 since the outbreak began on Feb. 29, and the number of deaths has hit 520, health authorities are working on expanding the country's testing capacity to strengthen response measures.
In conjunction with a month-long lockdown, Ecuador has been relying on mass testing, Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said during her daily televised press briefing, calling it "the best recipe" for managing the outbreak.
"The more tests we have, the more ability to apply them, process them and deliver the results, the better we can manage the pandemic," she said.
A new laboratory in the western Santa Elena province joined the effort to process tests on Monday, while officials hope to certify other laboratories so they can boost capacity.
In Peru, where 17,837 cases and 484 deaths were reported as of Tuesday with 1,512 new cases detected in the past 24 hours, President Martin Vizcarra stressed that coordination at all levels of government was needed to effectively combat the pandemic.
"Our priority as government is being able to identify and coordinate joint actions to combat the disease throughout the country as best as possible," said Vizcarra during a working tour in the Moquegua region.
Chile has reported 10,832 cases and 147 deaths, with 325 new infections detected and eight more deaths within the past day.
"Today we can add up a total of 4,969 recovered patients since the epidemic began in Chile, nearly 5,000, which amounts to 45 percent of confirmed cases, and we hope that in a few more days, the number of recovered patients will surpass the number of active cases, which now stands at 5,716," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.
Brazil, the largest country in the region, has registered more than 40,000 infections and 2,500 deaths from the disease. Enditem
