Across Latin America and the Caribbean, the COVID crisis is being described as catastrophic, with record numbers of cases, deaths and collapsing healthcare systems. In addition to the deep COVID-triggered economic crisis afflicting every country, medical experts point to the decades-long lack of investment in healthcare infrastructure as a critical factor. The Committee for the Coincidence of Opposites’ call for building a global health system couldn’t be more urgent.
Last week, throughout the region, there were 1.1 million new cases and 31,000 deaths. Colombia and Brazil are among those countries in the world that are registering the highest number of deaths. In Colombia’s hard-hit province of Antioquia, medical personnel have begun to practice “ethical triage” to determine who gets care, Infobae reported. In most cities, ICU beds are saturated. On June 18, Brazil reported a record 98,832 new cases, the second highest daily number since the beginning of the pandemic, and Reuters reports that Brazil now has the highest average daily cases in the world. Earlier this week, neighboring Paraguay registered 18.9 deaths per million—the highest mortality rate in the world—compared to 2.7 in India, 2.2 in South Africa and 1.1 in the U.S. Deaths per million in Peru are 9.2—more than three times higher than India.
