As Argentina moves forward with overtures, PAHO warns America will face covid outbreaks “until 2022”

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Wednesday warned that the entire American continent has likely coronavirus epidemics “until 2022”, and considered “disrupting” the increase in cases in South and Central America during the first half of this year.

“The course of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Americas remains very uncertain”, alerted PAHO the highest health authorities on the continent, during the 59th meeting of its board of directors.

The warning comes as Argentina moves forward with flexibilisations and amid the controversy over the decision to lift the mandatory use of the chinstrap on the streets, a measure some provinces oppose.

The World Health Organization (WHO) office said the reluctance of people to get vaccinated, because of inequalities, may “further slow” vaccination, and countries continue to report “interruptions persistent to varying degrees “in the provision of essential health care. services, according to the AFP news agency.

In this context, “one possible scenario is that, until 2022, the countries of the Americas will still face localized epidemics of Covid-19, mainly in institutions (for example, nursing homes, prisons), areas around densely populated cities and rural environments, ”PAHO said.

Likewise, the PAHO report pointed out that as of August 24, 39% of cases and 47% of deaths from the coronavirus worldwide have been reported in America.

Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and the United States were then among the 10 countries with the highest number of total cases, while Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the United States were among the Top 10 with the most accumulated deaths.

Since the start of the pandemic, the region has recorded nearly 88.5 million cases and 2.1 million deaths, according to official figures.

Just over half of those cases and deaths were reported in the first half of 2021, with the highest percentage in January of this year.

Last Monday, the four variants of the coronavirus had been detected on the continent: Alpha, identified for the first time in the United Kingdom, in 49 countries; Gamma, from Brazil, at 40; Beta, from South Africa, at 25; and Delta, the most contagious in India, at 25.

PAHO reported that Canada, Mexico and the United States, which have greater capacity for gene sequencing, reported a rapid increase in the proportion of Delta cases week by week, and that this variant is currently dominant in all three countries.

With agency information

LM