America’s COVID-19 death toll hits 1 million, hospitals overflowing, PAHO warns

BRASILIA (Reuters) – More than a million people have died from COVID-19 in North and South America, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced on Wednesday.

In the last week alone, an additional 2 million cases were reported in the Americas, with the United States being the main driver of the outbreak, the WHO regional arm said. Globally, there have been more than 100 million cases and 2.1 million deaths with 44 million cases in North and South America, according to a Reuters tally.

Across North America, there is increasing pressure on hospital capacity and in some states in the United States, nearly 80% of intensive care beds are used to treat patients with COVID-19, the chief of staff said. ‘OPS, Carissa Etienne, at a virtual briefing.

Similar rates are seen in many states in Mexico, where the number of cases has tripled in some areas, she warned.

Of particular concern is the hospital situation in Brazil, with three quarters of intensive care beds occupied in many Brazilian states, she said.

In Manaus, many patients are waiting for beds in collapsing hospitals under the pressure of a second wave of coronavirus infections complicated by a new variant of the virus detected there.

Variants that have emerged within or outside the region have been detected in 14 countries in North and South America, PAHO said.

Only a few cases of British and South African mutations have been found, mostly in travelers, and they do not appear to be spreading in the region, according to PAHO, but the Amazon variant that has emerged in the Brazilian city of Manaus is appearing. to have a high transmission rate.

PAHO expects the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines made available to the poorest countries through the UN-led COVAX facility to begin in March, with some 164 million doses.

The COVAX installation is expected to deploy 2 billion doses worldwide.