WHO DECLARES
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Latin America “a new epicentre” of the coronavirus pandemic while US President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on state and local governments to speed up the reopening of the reeling American economy.
Surges in infections across much of Central and South America have driven the global case count to nearly 5.2 million, with more than 337,000 deaths, even as hard-hit Europe and the US cautiously move into a recovery phase.
The death toll in Brazil has soared past 20,000, and with 330,890 reported cases, it has the third-biggest caseload in the world behind the US and Russia.
“In a sense, South America has become a new epicentre for the disease,” WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said on Friday. “We’ve seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases... but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point.”
Infections rose and intensive care units were swamped in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Ecuador, countries lauded for imposing early shutdowns. Mexico passed 6,000 deaths on Wednesday. The country recently reported more than 400 deaths a day.
The Colombian town of Leticia, which lies along the Amazon River at the border of Brazil and
Peru, has nearly 1,300 cases. Authorities in Colombia have pointed a finger at Brazil to explain the rise in cases there.
In Chile, more than 90% of intensive care beds were full last week in the capital Santiago, where the main cemetery dug 1,000 emergency graves to prepare for a wave of deaths. Peru has 2.5 intensive care beds per 100,000 people, one quarter of the global standard.
Brazilians, meanwhile, got a shocking look on Friday at an expletive-laced meeting between President Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet when a Supreme Court judge released a video at the centre of an investigation targeting the far-right leader. The video includes Bolsonaro using profanity to insult governors.
In Washington, Trump, keen to find a way out of the crisis and facing an uphill re-election battle, ramped up pressure on state and local governments to ease lockdown measures.
“The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now, for this weekend,” said the US president. “If they don’t do it, I will override the governors. In America, we need more prayer, not less.”
Russia, meanwhile, has so far recorded 3,388 deaths — with a caseload of more 335,882 infections, second only to the US. “The seriously ill are building up. Doctors try to save each one who lies there for two, three or more weeks,” said Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin. “Unfortunately, it’s not possible to save them all.”
WHO said on Friday that cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll. “The Covid-19 pandemic reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago,” it said, noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.