Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, March 11 (NNN-TELESUR) — Argentine authorities had to evacuate hundreds of people from the Andean Region due to six new forest fire outbreaks that have injured at least 20 people in the last 24 hours.

Local fire departments reported the blazes have also caused damage to vehicles and residences in the municipalities of El Lago Puelo, El Hoyo, El Maiten, and Cholila, in the Chabut province.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Argentina received the first batch of vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm on Thursday night.

Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Santiago Cafiero was on hand to receive the shipment at the Ezeiza International Airport on the southern outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires.

Accompanying Cafiero were Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Sola and Health Minister Carla Vizzotti, as well as Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Zou Xiaoli.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) –Argentina’s new Health Minister Carla Vizzotti was sworn in on Saturday after the country was rattled by a scandal over VIP coronavirus vaccine access, pledging to strengthen oversight and transparency of the inoculation program.

Her predecessor stepped down on Friday after reports that people had been able to use connections to get priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, piling pressure on the government of President Alberto Fernandez.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — Argentina registered 7,739 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the national tally to 2,001,034, the health ministry said.

The ministry also reported 109 more deaths from the disease, bringing the nationwide death toll to 49,674.

A total of 1,798,120 patients have recovered so far, while 153,240 cases remain active.

Having registered a total of 835,204 cases since the pandemic broke out in March last year, the province of Buenos Aires remains the hardest-hit region in the South American country.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 7 (NNN-TELESUR) — Argentina’s authorities warned that a wildfire that started in a forest of the Patagonia region two weeks ago is approaching a residential area despite firefighters’ efforts to quell it.

“Over 180 rescuers are working tirelessly to contain the flames, but the high temperatures, winds, and drought are not allowing it,” the National Fire Management Service’s General Director Alberto Seufferheld said.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 6 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Fracking activity in Vaca Muerta, Argentina shot up in January to its highest level in 17 months, according to the Argentine unit of Houston-based services company NCS Multistage.

Demand for oil in Argentina is recovering from an eight-month lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic, plus pricing incentives spur drilling for natural gas.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 5 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Russia has again approached the Argentine government to offer defense equipment, including military planes for the air force.

The information was released by the InfoDefensa website, which cited a recent meeting between the Russian ambassador to Argentina, Dmitry V. Feoktistov, and the commander of the Argentine Air Force (FAA), Major-Brigadier Xavier Isaac.

According to a statement by the Russian embassy, the meeting addressed “prospects for bilateral technical-military cooperation between the two nations.”

BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Argentine President Alberto Fernandez on Wednesday called for Latin American unity to tackle the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"The pandemic is much more than a disease that has claimed lives. The pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of a system," Fernandez said in an address during a visit to the headquarters of the Santiago, Chile-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 18 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Argentina confirmed the first case in the country of a new coronavirus variant that was first identified in Britain and appears to be more contagious.

The new variant was detected in a traveler who arrived asymptomatic in Argentina from Germany at the end of December 2020, Argentina’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Roberto Salvarezza wrote on Twitter.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez on Thursday ruled out imposing a curfew to curb crowds and gatherings amid an increase in the novel coronavirus disease, but said officials were looking at alternative measures.

"We are contemplating the possibility of the security forces breaking up crowds, but we are not going to implement a curfew," Fernandez told a local radio station.