A woman mourns the death of her husband, a victim of COVID-19, outside the emergency area at Alberto Sabogal Hospital in Lima, Peru on Wednesday. The Peruvian Health Minister insisted on Wednesday that Peru has entered a plateau in the curve that registers expansion of the coronavirus infections. Photo: AFP

 
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra said on Saturday that the country is not looking to repeat the difficult situation it faced with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in March when the health crisis first began in the country.

"We do not want to go through the experience we had in March of this year when the first case of COVID-19 arrived in Peru," said the president during a tour of the southern region of Tacna where he inaugurated a new hospital for COVID-19 patients.

Vizcarra recalled that when the pandemic began in March, the country was not prepared for the magnitude of the health crisis, as it had only a total of 2,000 hospital beds.

The Peruvian government has managed to improve hospital infrastructure during the pandemic by installing around 20,000 beds in hospitals for people suffering from COVID-19.

Vizcarra urged Peruvians not to lower their guard and to comply with preventive health measures, such as hand washing and social distancing.

According to the Ministry of Health, to date, Peru has registered a total of 794,584 cases of COVID-19, with the possibility of a second wave occurring in October.