Argentina's Highest Positivity Rate Of COVID-19 In The World, What Is The Reason?

JAKARTA - Argentina's positivity rate is currently the highest in the world. Noted, six out of ten people in Argentina are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. What is the reason?

This data is presented by the University of Oxford in Our World in Data. Currently, Argentina has 809,728 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with the death toll reaching 21,468. The average addition of cases per day in Argentina reaches tens of thousands of cases.

According to an Argentine medical expert quoted by Reuters, explaining the reasons for the high number of people exposed to the coronavirus is because of the lax restrictions and low levels of testing. The total positivity rate rose from around 40 percent in August to nearly 60 percent last week.

"Is there isolation? There isn't. Is there (enough) tests? Nothing," said Carlos Kambourian, a pediatrician in Buenos Aires.

By comparison, New York state with a population of 20 million people, less than half of Argentina's population of 45 million is testing more. New York is recorded to perform 100,000 tests a day or four times the number of tests Argentina. As a result, the US state's positivity rate is only around 1 percent.

The Argentine government has previously won credit for the initial tough lockdown that began on March 20. In fact, Argentina is the country with the strictest measures in Latin America.

Argentina's first COVID-19 cases were in Buenos Aires on March 3. The infected person is a man who returned from Milan, Italy. Four days later, Argentina's Ministry of Health confirmed the country's first COVID019 death, which was also South America's first.

But since then it has been forced to loosen restrictions to help revive an economy that's been in a two-year recession. In addition, the poverty and unemployment rates are increasing.

Doctor Kambourian says there are few ways to strengthen health services. "Of course the strategy to stop this type of pandemic is not being implemented," he said.

Meanwhile, the Argentine Health Ministry explained that most of the positive test results were the result of the "DetecAr" program. The testing program focuses on contacts of those known to be infected. The government has promised to raise the level of testing.

Argentina has the eighth most cases of COVID-19 in the world. It is currently in the top five for new cases and the highest death rate occurs within seven days. Latin America has been the hardest-hit region in the world due to cases and deaths from COVID-19.