Coronavirus: PAHO warned of a “strong rebound …

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) alerted this Wednesday that in recent weeks the continent has the highest rates of new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, for which he called for redoubling preventive measures to reverse the situation.

“Although we have been living with this virus for months, our region has seen the highest levels of new cases of Covid-19 in recent weeks,” PAHO director Carissa Etienne said at a conference Press.

In this direction, He pointed out that in the United States, daily cases exceed the positive barrier of 200,000. In turn, they pointed out that there are currently 100,000 people hospitalized in this North American country.. Mexico is also experiencing an upsurge in infections in the state of Baja California, near the US border.

While in Central America, Panama reports a high incidence of cases, Honduras and Guatemala are experiencing a particular increase in areas most affected by Hurricanes Iota and Eta.

At the same time, Ettiene called “worrying” the situation in some South American countries, such as Brazil, which follows a sustained increase in new infections and its health system is “under pressure”.

The expert pointed out that These figures and trends clearly show that the region needs to redouble preventive measures, especially for the end of year celebrations. “Now is not the time to relax,” he pointed out. He also called on governments to increase the capacity of hospitals in affected areas.

“Once again, we need coordinated efforts to increase the capacity of hospitals in the most affected areas, because when hospitals cannot accommodate all the sick, many will die while awaiting care,” a- he warned.

Vaccination

PAHO is working with the prospect that vaccines manufactured through the Covax mechanism, which establishes equitable access to injections around the world, will begin distribution between March and April.

Regarding the obligation to be vaccinated, Etienne underlined that “it is a decision which depends on each country”, but underlined that “the most important is not to discuss this fact but the need to have the antidote.