Shawdesh Desk:

Latin America and the Caribbean registered a record of more than 300,000 new daily Covid-19 cases from January 7-13, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

Argentina was the worst affected country accounting for almost 140,000 of those cases, as well as a seven-day average of 96 deaths.

The country of 45 million has registered almost seven million cases and more than 117,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

The average daily new cases in Latin America of 304,000 is almost double the previous high from the region’s last wave when 155,000 daily cases were recorded from May 28 to June 3, 2021.

The new record was a 126 percent increase on the previous seven days.

Deaths have likewise increased, although without reaching anything like the levels of the last wave.

The seven-day average from January 7-13 was 621 deaths, a 44 percent increase on the previous seven days.

It is still a long way off the record number of average daily deaths of more than 5,500 between April 6-12, 2021.