The death toll from the twin earthquakes in Venezuela has exceeded 2,000, a top government official said Wednesday.

The number was announced by Jorge Rodríguez, president of the country's National Assembly, on the Venezolana de Televisión television channel. He said the number has reached 2,295. 

While search efforts continue, hope is also waning with today marking a week since the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude twin earthquakes on June 24. Searchers have also been shaken by aftershocks, with the most recent one occurring on Monday morning which measured 4.6 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey. 

Many have waited for days for the heavy machinery needed to dig through the rubble, with relatives and neighbors left to try to pull out survivors with basic tools or by hand.

As the death toll rose, Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodriguez declared seven days of mourning, saying the country's "soul is torn apart by the human losses."

More than 10,571 have also been injured and over 15,800 people affected by the earthquakes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Forty thousand people were missing, based on civilian reports, while 6,461 people have been rescued since the earthquakes, according to the OCHA. 

On Tuesday, a three-year-old boy was successfully rescued after six days of search and rescue efforts, which Rodríguez described as a "source of hope for our people." On Monday, a 21-year-old man was pulled alive, after being trapped for more than 100 hours. 

An 18-day-old baby and her mother were also pulled from the rubble on Friday. A video released by the State Department over the weekend on X, showed American and Venezuelan search and rescue teams pulling a crying baby from the debris.

“Against impossible odds, hope endures,” the State Department said in the post. “Every life saved is a victory.”

The rescue of the baby, Juan David and his mother, Dayana Patiño has been shared by thousands online. Patiño told the BBC that her son had given her the “motivation to be awake and alert.”

"As long as he was alive, I was going to be alive. Every now and then I was touching his nose for proof that he was still breathing," she told the BBC. Dayana has suffered injuries to both her legs from when the earthquake hit while Juan has sustained minor injuries.

Yet tens of thousands of people still remain missing – the majority of collapsed buildings in the hardest-hit city La Guaira have been marked with the letter 'D' for 'deceased', a sign that they had searched for but found no signs of life.

The UN has said it is obtaining 10,000 body bags as part of its rescue operation, saying that the rise in the death toll was unavoidable.

The UN has also warned of tens of thousands of people being in urgent need of food and shelter. It has also warned of increased risk of disease outbreaks, including yellow fever and dengue, pushing Venezuela's already fragile healthcare system to a breaking point.

In the critical 72 hours after the earthquakes, hospitals, residential buildings, restaurants, pharmacies, hotels and convenience stores have collapsed in La Guaira state, Caracas and surrounding regions. More than 855 buildings have been affected, according to the OCHA. 

According to NASA, at least 59,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed with the widespread destruction visible from space. 

The State Department announced a special Task Force and Disaster Response Team on Friday to aid in search and rescue. Search-and-rescue teams have also been deployed from more than 30 countries, with thousands of rescuers from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, France, Mexico, and elsewhere. 

The U.S. also announced on Monday more than $300 million in support, an increase from its prior commitment of $150 million in aid. China has also announced nearly $15million in assistance.

While Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television on Saturday that over 14,000 military and police personnel were deployed to secure the region, many civilians in the hardest-hit areas reported that they were more focused on crowd control than directly aiding search and rescue efforts as international teams were undertaking.

Up to seven states have been affected from the earthquakes, including La Guaira, Miranda, Capital District, Falcón, Carabobo and Yaracuy. 

“We continue to support the affected families and directly oversee the care and recovery efforts in La Guaira,” Rodríguez said on X on Wednesday. “I know that many Venezuelans feel pain and frustration; I deeply share those feelings.”

Christina Park is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.