WHO says Latin America has become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic
Latin America has become the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with infections and deaths set to substantially worsen in the coming weeks, the World Health Organization said .
The region has confirmed just under 700,000 cases and 33,000 deaths. But grim reports of cities resorting to mass graves and low testing rates in the majority of countries have led to concerns that these figures are a significant underestimate.
“There can be no doubt our region has become the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr Carissa Etienne, director of the WHO’s regional office, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), told a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
“Now is not the time to relax restrictions or scale back preventative strategies, now is the time to stay strong, to remain vigilant, and to aggressively implement proven public health measures,” she added.
The coronavirus is believed to have first arrived in Latin America in late February and has since taken hold in most of the region, with daily infections now surpassing the count in Europe and the United States.
There have been repeated warnings that the outbreak could be exacerbated by underfunded hospitals and stagnating economies, as Latin American governments have far fewer resources to throw at the virus than many of those in Europe or North America.
Read more via The Telegraph
