The coronavirus has landed in Antarctica, the last continent previously free from Covid-19, Chile's military said, as health and army officials scrambled to clear out and quarantine staff from a remote research station there. 

Chile's armed forces said at least 36 people had been infected at its Bernardo O'Higgins base, including 26 army personnel and 10 civilian contractors.

The permanently staffed research station, operated by Chile's army, lies near the tip of a peninsula in northernmost Antarctica.