Buenos Aires, Jun 13 (IANS): The Argentinean government has decided to extend the closure of the country's borders to non-resident foreigners until June 25 in an attempt to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The measure announced on Saturday also allows the continuation of suspension of all direct flights to and from the UK due to the Alpha or Kent variant of the virus that was discovered there late last year, reports Xinhua news agency.

Flights from Brazil, Chile, India, Turkey and African countries will also remain suspended.

The government warned that "in the current epidemiological context, the risk of introducing new, even more transmissible variants could generate a sharp and high increase in cases, which would inevitably lead to higher mortality".

At least 15 of Argentina's 24 jurisdictions have reported intensive care unit occupancy of over 80 per cent, and 23 of the 24 jurisdictions have had an incidence of over 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks.

Argentina has so far registered 4,111,147 coronavirus cases and 84,628 deaths.