SANTIAGO – Chile on Friday reported a record number of daily COVID-19 infections for the third straight day, detecting 14,757 new cases in 24 hours for a total caseload of 1,934,204, the Health Ministry said.

In the same 24-hour period, 18 more people died from causes related to COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 39,474.

According to the ministry, the COVID-19 positivity rate in the past day was 12.9 percent nationwide, and 13.53 percent for the Santiago Metropolitan Region.

Read more: Chile reports record daily COVID-19 cases with 9,509 infections

Undersecretary of Public Health Maria Teresa Valenzuela said in a video released Friday that the Omicron variant of the virus continues to “hit our country” as infections rise “rapidly.”

The South American country averaged 2,500 daily COVID-19 cases in December, but the spread of the Omicron variant in January pushed the average to a record of more than 10,000 cases per day.