LONDON 

Argentina recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths on Tuesday.  

The Ministry of Health confirmed 745 new deaths and 35,543 cases in the last 24 hours.

The 35,543 cases surpassed the previous record of 29,472 set April 16 and deaths eclipsed the number on May 5, when 663 fatalities were registered.

And there has also been a significant rise in the number of patients admitted to ICU units.

Total occupancy of ICU beds is at 72.2% and in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area it is 76.2%.

The province of Buenos Aires recorded 14,593 new cases and continues to be the epicenter during the country’s second wave recording the highest number of daily infections.

Minister of Health for the city of Buenos Aires, Fernan Quiros, emphasized the need to get the population vaccinated.

"We are capable of applying a huge amount of vaccines in a few days. In 10 days we can apply 300,000," he said.

A total of 11,763,270 vaccines have been distributed as of Tuesday, with 10,193,368 doses administered to patients, according to government data.

Those receiving their first dose stands at 8,141,608 while 2,051,760 have received both doses.

Argentina, with a population of more than 45 million, has registered an excess of 3.37 million coronavirus cases, 71,771 deaths and over 2.9 million recoveries, according to Health Ministry data.