Buenos Aires, June 27 (RHC)-- Argentinean President Alberto Fernandez says the South American country will extend and tighten a lockdown in and around Buenos Aires following a sharp rise in new coronavirus cases.

Overall cases in Argentina have risen fivefold since late May, surpassing 50,000 this week when there were 2,606 new confirmed daily cases on Thursday.  The death toll stands at over 1,150.

The Argentinean president said restrictions on movement in the densely populated capital would be tightened again until July 17th.  "We need to gain time to guarantee that our health system is ready and can serve everyone ... The quarantine is a remedy for the pandemic, the only one we know of."

Alberto Fernandez added: "The economy is deteriorating, but the economy will recover. What unfortunately we are not going to recover are those thousand Argentines who have left us."