Latin American nations report 100 confirmed COVID-19 cases

Latin American countries have stepped up vigilance to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, which has affected nearly 100 people.

Chile has reported three new cases of COVID-19, taking the confirmed cases to 13.

All three cases can be traced back to another infected person or travel history to Europe, where the cases have been growing rapidly, Xinhua reported.

Chilean Defence Minister Alberto Espina has assured the Health Ministry support of armed forces to contain the virus.

Espina has said the country could move from isolated cases with travel history to community transmission and warned that armed forces are most vulnerable due to their community living conditions.

In Peru, two more people tested positive for the new coronavirus, taking the total to nine.

Both two new cases have been related to the country's first positive case, a 25-year-old, who had a travel history to the Czech Republic, Spain, and France.

In Argentina, 17 cases have now been reported with one death. Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta has asked the people travelling from virus-hit areas to stay in self-imposed quarantine.

"Especially the people returning from trips to one of the countries where the virus is going around such as China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Spain, France or Germany, in these cases we ask them to cooperate by staying at home," Xinhua quoted Rodriguez.

The self-quarantine period is 15 days as the virus can take two weeks to surface.

Colombia's Health Ministry also reported two new cases, taking the total to three. Both the new patients arrived from Spain.

Colombian President Ivan Duque was recently tested for COVID-19 after he attended an event in the US where one person was tested positive. Duque's results came back negative.

Ecuador has so far registered 15 cases, with the latest reported on Sunday. The new patient was in contact with the country's first case.

The government of Costa Rica has reported nine cases including three Americans and six Costa Ricans. Costa Rica also announced it was suspending all mass gatherings, such as concerts and festivals.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the novel coronavirus belongs to the family of zoonotic viruses that spread from animals to humans.

The symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus include running cold, sneezes, and coughs while in severe cases respiratory problems, shortness of breath, kidney failure or even death.

The deadly virus which originated in Wuhan, China has affected more than 105 counties and has infected 110,137 people globally with nearly 4,000 deaths.