Peru's president confirms coronavirus caseload now over 50,000

FILE PHOTO: Municipal workers clean the street with a bleach mixture during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Lima, Peru May 4, 2020. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda

Peru's President Martin Vizcarra confirmed on Tuesday that confirmed cases of the new coronavirus have now exceeded 50,000.

Vizcarra said a total of 51,189 cases had been detected, in a press conference in the capital Lima, and confirmed 1,444 deaths.

Copper-rich Peru was one of the first Latin American countries to shut down to prevent the virus spread yet nonetheless within ten days saw a doubling of its confirmed cases to become the region's second worst-hit nation after Brazil.

(This story corrects total case number in second paragraph)

(Reporting by Marco Aquino, writing by Aislinn Laing, Editing by Franklin Paul)