Can Argentina resist the Covid-19 crisis?

Argentina’s recently sworn-in President Alberto Fernández has taken serious action to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading across his country. After two confirmed deaths related to Covid-19, Argentina decided to close its borders for at least 15 days and suspend classes in public schools. Mr. Fernández’s actions come as a contrast to his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro, who has instead broken self-isolation protocol and called the outbreak a media-created “fantasy.”

Sitting next to his opponent and Buenos Aires mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Mr. Fernández said the measures are the only government’s first steps to “reduce the virus’ expansion capacity.”

But for Argentina, the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time. Latin America’s third-largest economy is still battling its worst financial collapse in at least 20 decades.

Argentina gets extra Covid-19 symptoms

Taking...