Argentina has the world’s highest rate of positive Covid-19 tests, according to Oxford-linked tracker Our World In Data, with nearly six out of 10 yielding an infection, a reflection of low testing levels and loose enforcement of lockdown rules.

Argentina has hit 809,728 confirmed cases, with a seven-day rolling average of around 12,500 new daily infections. The country, which started strongly against the virus, passed 20,000 fatalities last week.

Medical professionals said low-levels of testing and lax restrictions had propelled the high positive rate, that climbed from around 40 per cent in August to just shy of 60pc in the last week, a Reuters calculation using health ministry data shows.

“Is there isolation? There is none. Are there (enough) tests? No there aren’t,” Carlos Kambourian, a paediatrician in the city of Buenos Aires, told Reuters.