SANTIAGO, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chile has carried out more tests to detect novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection than any other country in Latin America, with 42,071 tests done in the past 24 hours alone, Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said on Sunday.

File photo: AFP

The figure is "a significant daily record, which continues to rank Chile as the country that performs the most tests in Latin America," said Paris.

"We insist on this point because that is how we are proactively detecting new cases and strengthening the traceability strategy," added Paris.

The Ministry of Health reported 1,576 new daily cases of COVID-19, bringing the total caseload to 521,558.

Meanwhile, the 44 daily COVID-19 deaths raised the total death toll to 14,543.