Funeral workers wearing protective clothing carry coffins at the cemetery in the city of Recanto da Paz, in Breves, Brazil, on June 7. Tarso Sarraf / AFP / Getty Images
Cases and deaths related to coronavirus opposite side Latin America is increasing faster than anywhere in the world. And in the hardest hit countries, they show no signs of slowing down. This region has recorded nearly 1.2 million cases and more than 60,000 deaths.
“We are particularly concerned about Central and South America, where many countries are witnessing an accelerating epidemic,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
WHO does not believe that Central or South America has reached the peak of transmission, which means the number of people who are sick and dying may continue to increase.
Brazil is stuck in crisis mode. Country has recorded at least 645,771 cases of coronavirus and 35,026 deaths.
It has recently passed Italy to become the third highest fatality country in the world and is likely to soon surpass England.
Mexico recorded the worst week of the plague, both in confirmed cases and deaths.
It recorded more than 1,000 deaths in one day for the first time. And for three consecutive days, this recorded a one-day high in a new case.
Despite gloomy figures, and conflicting messages from government leaders, officials have pushed ahead with plans for a gradual reopening across the country.
Peru has one of the worst outbreaks in Latin America. It has 187,400 cases, the second highest in the region behind Brazil.
People in the city of Callao queued for hours this week to refill their oxygen tanks. But once they got to the forefront, relatives of patients with Covid-19 found the prices skyrocketing.
Uruguay is a success story. A country with around 3.5 million people borders Brazil, which has the worst outbreaks in Latin America.
But Uruguay only recorded 834 cases. It has recorded one death since May 24 and a total of 23 deaths.
Experts say the reasons for the country’s success are many – strong initial responses including quarantine measures, a large and efficient system for tracking and isolating those infected, random testing and the formation of a crisis response committee.
