Lima, March 26 (RHC)-- According to the Peruvian Ministry of Health, the country registered 11,260 new COVID-19 infections, the highest number of people infected in one day since the pandemic broke out in March last year.

Deaths in the last 24 hours totaled 182, bringing the daily average for the week to 162 deaths, less than the 193 in the first week of March.  With these figures, Peru accumulates 1,492,519 Covid-19 cases and 50,656 deaths since the first coronavirus infection was detected in the South American country.

The average number of infections in the last seven days reached 8,130 cases per day, a figure lower than that reported in the worst week of the pandemic when the average marked 8,340 cases per day in August 2020.

Peru has seen an increase in infections and deaths in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic. This situation has led to the worsening of the medical and health services crisis.

The Peruvian Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte, indicated on Wednesday that the Brazilian variant of Covid-19 is responsible for 39.7 percent of the new cases detected in the capital Lima.  

Despite the presence of the Brazilian variant and the second wave of the pandemic, vaccination against covid-19 is progressing at a slow pace since it began on February 9th.  To date 219,000 people have received both doses of the vaccine, according to health authorities who hope to immunize 24.5 million Peruvians during 2021, out of a population of some 32 million.

The vaccination campaign is limited to front-line health personnel, military, police and civilians over 80 years of age.   The Peruvian government announced a new national lockdown during Holy Week to prevent the spread of the virus.