Argentina topped two million Covid-19 infections, health officials said, as the country scrambles to ramp up a vaccination programme in a race against time to tame the virus ahead of the fast-approaching southern hemisphere autumn.

The Ministry of Health reported 7,739 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 2,001,034, and 49,674 deaths.

Argentina implemented a strict lockdown in March that lasted for months, with dwindling effect and increasing frustration. Restrictions have since been eased, but a Reuters tally of data shows that daily infections more than doubled following the year-end holidays and during the austral summer.