Uruguay confirms first coronavirus death, cases hit 303

Uruguay confirmed the country’s first death related to coronavirus late on Saturday as total cases climbed above 300 in the South American grains and cattle producer, which has a population of around 3.5 million people.

The country’s health ministry said in a report that a 71-year-old former electoral court minister, Rodolfo González Rissotto, had died after contracting the virus that has infected nearly 700,000 people globally and killed over 30,000.

A 82-year-old Uruguayan woman who died earlier in March was found to have had the virus, but her death was attributed to the terminal cancer she was suffering.