Rio de Janeiro.- Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed friday the million killed by Covid-19, according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic worsening in the part of the world with the highest per capita death rate.
From the dusty highlands of Bolivia to the Brazilian city of São Paulo, the pandemic has collapsed health systems They are underfunded after spreading rapidly through countries where many people live from day to day and have not been able to stay in lockdown.
On PeruAmong the most affected countries in the region, patients with Covid-19 have died in the crowded corridors of hospitals in the capital, Lima.
Deep in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, many residents of the city of Manaus died at home without oxygen to help their damaged lungs, after supplies ran out this year.
With cases descending on Europe, Asia and North America, and stable in Africa, South America is the only region where new infections are increasing rapidly on a per capita basis, according to Our World in Data. Yet India is battling one of the worst outbreaks in the world.
On average, in May, 31% of deaths from Covid-19 in the world occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, home to only 8.4% of the world’s population.
Doctors and epidemiologists say the coronavirus pandemic caught unprepared governments by surprise last year, and its impact was compounded by leaders who downplayed its severity and failed to ensure the timely supply of vaccines.
The top eight countries that recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths per capita over the past week were all from Latin America.
“Instead of preparing for the pandemic, We downplayed the disease, saying that tropical heat would deactivate the virus“said Dr. Francisco Moreno Sánchez, head of the Covid-19 program at one of Mexico’s main hospitals and who criticized the government’s vaccination plan.
“Unfortunately, we are among the worst affected regions, where the handling of the pandemic has been the most wrong, and now we are suffering the consequences,” the epidemiologist added to Reuters.
Brazil hit hard
With the death toll steadily rising, gravediggers in several countries have been forced to expand cemeteries with row after row of new graves. In a break with the traditional predominantly Catholic culture of the region, the deceased are often buried with few or no relatives to say goodbye.
Most of the deaths, more than 446,000 have occurred in Brazil, which became a coronavirus epicenter this year with the second-deadliest outbreak outside the United States, although it seems likely that India will overtake it soon.
The government of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a vaccine skeptic and opponent of lockdowns, is being investigated by a parliamentary commission for failing to plan a national campaign against Covid-19 and not buying vaccines on time.
Brazil remains the third most affected country in the world in terms of confirmed Covid-19 cases, behind only India and the United States. It has the highest number of deaths in the region, followed by Mexico and Colombia, which combined account for about 74% of all deaths in Latin America.
The daily death toll in South America fell to 3,872 in May, from an average of 4,558 in April, according to a Reuters analysis. But cases are on the rise again and deaths are a lagging indicator, usually rising weeks after a spike in new infections.
Vaccination in South America lags behind much of the world. In the region, only 15% of people have received at least one dose compared to 28% in Europe and 34% in North America. As of May 19, only Asia and Africa are below with 5% and 1%, respectively.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has criticized “glaring gaps” in access to Covid-19 vaccines in Latin America, compared to the United States, which has had most of the 400 million doses administered so far. in the American continent.
“Only 3% of Latin Americans have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. We urgently need more vaccines,” PAHO Director Carissa Etienne told reporters this week.
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