Argentina's President Opts For Voluntary Isolation Amid Coronavirus Rise In Political Frat

Fear grips Argentina’s political frat, owing to the growing number of COVID-related cases among senior politicians including 46-year-old former Buenos Aires governor María Eugenia Vidal. As a protective measure, President Alberto Fernandez has opted for voluntary isolation, suggested presidential doctor Federico Saavedra on Wednesday.

Sources close to the president believe that the security measures were upped after Vidal met fellow PRO politician and Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez over lunch on Friday, as Rodriquez interacts with Fernandes on a regular basis to co-ordinate pandemic contagion strategies. On the other hand, Martín Insaurralde, mayor of the district of Lomas de Zamora in the Greater Buenos Aires area, and Buenos Aires provincial legislator Alex Campbell were both tested positive, and have been working closely with Vidal.

President Fernández is treading on a vigilant path and is adhering to all medical instructions advised by his doctor -- which includes suspending all “travel and personal meetings” and quarantining within the boundaries of the Quinta de Olivos presidential compound in Greater Buenos Aires. Fernandez won’t be attending the forthcoming national flag day ceremony either, which is slated to take place in the central city of Rosario Friday as well.

Argentina might be way ahead of its neighboring countries -- Brazil and Chile -- in terms of containing the virus’s spread, but a slight easing of the lockdown restrictions on May 10 resulted in a significant increase in the cases tested positive. For instance, Argentina’s reported cases jumped from 8,000 on May 17, and currently stands at 35,000 cases. Out of which, almost 16,000 of e cases can be traced to the Buenos Aires City and another 14,000 in the areas surrounding Greater Buenos Aires. The fatality count touched 878 on Wednesday.

Despite the steep rise in the cases, Argentina’s numbers continue to remain significantly lower than its giant northern neighbor Brazil, the country with the second-highest cases in the world -- 923,000, and its western neighbor Chile with 221,000 cases. Argentina by comparison ranks 34th among the countries to be hardest hit by the pandemic. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro faced severe backlash for downplaying the severity of the pandemic, rebuking lockdown strategies, and terming the highly contagious virus as a “little flu.”