Briefings in the past few days on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and healthcare professionals across the Caribbean, Central and South America reveal a dire situation. Cases are rising in virtually every country, health and hospital systems are overburdened, and shortages of vaccines remain acute, forcing several governments to reinstitute strict public health measures, including travel restrictions, quarantines and school closures. In her April 28 briefing, PAHO’s director Dr. Carissa Etienne, pointed to rising cases in all Central American and Caribbean countries, plus significant increases in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The number of cases in South America’s largest economies are surpassing all previous records. Dr. Etienne also reported that the region is seeing more COVID cases among young people who are very sick when they enter hospitals, with many experiencing COVID for the second time.
The COVID toll in Peru is crushing. The Health Ministry reported that between April 1-26, a record 8,255 people died—the previous one-day death record was 433. In the same timeframe, the country’s total number of new cases reached 87,266, with a one-day record of 4,800. Spain’s EFE news service reports that in the past 24 hours, Chile registered a whopping 7,199 daily cases with a 10% positivity rate. In the previous 7-day period, new cases had remained stable at about 6,000 daily. Note that both Chile and Uruguay have had very successful vaccine rollouts; but increased cases are being attributed to the spread of new variants and relaxation of quarantine measures. Deaths from COVID are so high in Paraguay, that authorities are warning that should the death rate continue at its current pace, COVID will be the country’s leading cause of death by year’s end, Ultima Hora reported April 30.
