Lima, Dec 2 (IANS): Peru has entered into its fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic after an increase of confirmed cases in the past three weeks, Health Minister Kelly Portalatino announced.

A total of 6,541 new infections were detected, and nine deaths were reported between Tuesday and Wednesday, Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying

Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, Peru has had a total of 4,252,383 cases and 217,414 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.

"According to the criteria of the National Center for Epidemiology, this increase can be called a fifth wave, estimated to be of lesser magnitude than the previous ones," said Cesar Munayco, director of the National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Disease Control.

He indicated that the hike in infections has been "very rapid and sustained", leading to a rise in hospitalizations and a "much more moderate" increase in deaths due to the pandemic.

Health authorities pointed out that the new wave is mainly driven by the BA.5 sub-lineages of the Omicron variant.