COVID-19 growing dangerously in Brazil, warns WHO branch in the Americas

BRASÍLIA (Reuters) – Coronavirus is growing “dangerously” throughout Brazil, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Americas, Carissa Etienne, calling on all Brazilians to take preventive measures to contain the spread.

“Unfortunately, the terrible situation in Brazil is also affecting neighboring countries,” said Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in a briefing.

COVID-19 cases have increased in the states of Bolívar and Amazonas, in Venezuela, and in the border regions of Peru and Bolivia, she said.

The variant of the virus first discovered in Brazil known as P1, which experts say is more contagious than the original coronavirus strain, has now been detected in 15 countries in the Americas and has become a major cause for concern, said the PAHO incidents, Sylvain Aldighieri.

In the Southern Cone, cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, according to PAHO.

In Paraguay, most beds in intensive care units (ICUs) are occupied and the health system is suffering from pressure. Uruguay has reported more than 1,000 cases a day several times in the past few weeks, an alarming number due to the size of the country.

In Central America, cases have declined in Panama, but the increase in hospitalizations in Guatemala is reducing the capacity of beds in the ICU.

The COVAX facility led by WHO and the Gavi coalition to provide equitable access to vaccines has delivered 2,161,800 doses to the region so far, including more than 1 million doses to Brazil last weekend.

PAHO expects more than 100,000 doses of vaccine to be delivered this week in El Salvador, Belize and Suriname, and an additional 1.2 million doses have already been purchased.

“Vaccines are coming, but most people in our region are several months away,” said Etienne.

According to a Reuters count, Latin America and the Caribbean have reported about 23.7 million cases of coronavirus so far and 746,000 related deaths, almost double the number of victims from Asia and Africa combined.

Brazil alone had more than 295,000 deaths from COVID-19 and more than 12 million cases of the virus.