Santiago, Dec 29 (IANS): Chile has registered a 28 per cent increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in the past two weeks, the Ministry of Health said.

On Monday, an additional 1,923 people tested positive for the virus which increased the total caseload to 602,028, while the death toll climbed to 16,443, reports Xinhua news agency.

Chile has been testing incoming travellers for Covid-19 in the last 14 days to detect potential carriers of the new variant of the novel coronavirus, first dicovered in the UK has now spread to other parts of the globe, Deputy Health Minister Paula Daza said at a press conference.

For the moment, authorities have ruled out closing the borders to foreigners, she added.

Chile on December 24 began the process of vaccinating essential healthcare workers with the first 10,000 doses of a vaccine against the disease.

More than 8,600 hospital staff members in the Metropolitan region, where the capital Santiago is located, and hard-hit southern regions have begun vaccination.