Chilean consul in Argentine grains hub Rosario dies from coronavirus

A Chilean consul in the Argentine grains hub city of Rosario has died after being infected by the coronavirus, Chile's foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as the global pandemic spreads through South America. Chile's foreign ministry had stated earlier this week that diplomat Fernando Labra, 60, had contracted COVID-19, which had led to his hospitalization and isolation in Argentina after he presented symptoms on his return from Chile.

Labra, who had almost four decades of experience, had "provided important services to our country, with his last destinations being the Consulates General in Buenos Aires and Rosario," the Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The health ministry of Argentine province Santa Fe said in a statement it had recorded its first death from COVID-19, which it said was a 60-year-old Chilean man in Rosario who had returned to the country in mid-March.

It did not name the consul. Argentina has recorded more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and close to 30 fatalities since the outbreak began.

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