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Peru coronavirus cases top 300,000 as Andean nation eases lockdown

06 July 2020 06:10 (UTC +04:00)

Peru on Sunday jumped past 300,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fifth-highest in the world, as the Andean nation of nearly 33 million people slowly reopens its battered economy, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The South American copper producer, which locked down in March against the virus but struggled to enforce a nationwide quarantine in the face of rising economic hardship, trails only Brazil in the region in terms of case numbers.

Peru’s death toll from the virus now stands at 10,589, the 10th-highest in the world, according to Reuters calculations.

President Martín Vizcarra’s government has eased restrictions this month to allow economic growth to revive, including the key mining sector. Peru is the world’s second-largest producer of copper.