BUENOS AIRES -- The Argentine government announced on Saturday to extend the closure of borders to non-resident foreigners until June 11 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The decision was announced in a special edition of the Official Gazette and was signed by the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, the minister of the interior, and the minister of health.

The decree also maintains the suspension of all direct flights to and from the United Kingdom due to the COVID-19 variant that has been detected there, and bans flights from Brazil, Mexico, Chile and India.

The decision stated that "there are new variants of SARS-CoV-2 with more transmissibility and, potentially, more seriousness" that justify extending the closure of borders.

In addition, it stated that in recent weeks in Argentina, there has been an increase in the number of cases and new variants have been detected that could be traced back to travelers or their contacts.

Argentina as of Friday had registered 3,482,512 cases and 73,391 deaths from the disease and the country has enacted strict confinement measures that suspend all non-essential activities given the exponential growth of cases.