Peru's reported coronavirus cases rapidly increased this week and topped 20,000 on Thursday, doubling in nine days, as President Martin Vizcarra extended a national quarantine in the world's No. 2 copper producer.
The crisis has left millions without jobs and Peru's hospitals are straining to deal with a rapid rise in the number of COVID-19 infections, with bodies being kept in hallways, masks being repeatedly reused, and protests breaking out amongst medical workers concerned over their safety.Peru recorded its first coronavirus case on March 6 and took 25 days to reach 1,000 cases. It took only 14 more days to reach 10,000 cases on April 14, according to a Reuters tally. Cases doubled again to 20,914 confirmed cases on Thursday. Peru has a total of 572 deaths.Peru has the second-highest number of cases in South America after Brazil, despite a tough lockdown aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus.