Covid-19: Latin America, World’s Most Affected Region, Passes 213,000 Fatalities

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Latin America and the Caribbean became the region with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, August 7th, totaling 213,120, thus topping Europe’s death toll, according to an AFP count based on official data.

In March, the old continent became the global epicenter of the pandemic which emerged three months earlier in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and 212,660 deaths have been recorded there to date. However, the rate of contagion has greatly decreased in Europe, unlike what is happening in Latin America.

Latin America and the Caribbean account for 44 percent of total Covid-19 deaths worldwide over the past seven days (some 18,300 out of 41,500).

The region also records the highest number of infections in the pandemic, with 5.3 million, most of which in Brazil.

The South American giant, with 2.9 million Covid-19 cases and nearly 98,500 deaths in a population of 212 million, is the second-hardest hit country in the world in absolute figures, second only to the United States.

Meanwhile, Mexico, with 128.8 million inhabitants, on Thursday passed the 50,000 deaths mark and reached 462,690 infections, according to official figures.

Peru comes second, with 455,409 infections and 20,424 deaths, followed by Chile with 368,825 infections and 9,958 deaths, Colombia with 357,710 infections and 11,939 deaths, and Argentina with 228,195 cases and 4,291 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Vaccine advances in Brazil

Brazil, one of the countries hosting trials of the vaccine for the novel coronavirus developed by Oxford University, expects to begin mass production of the vaccine in December, the state laboratory in charge reported on Friday.

On Thursday, President Jair Bolsonaro announced the release of R$1.9 billion (US$365.3 million) for the full process of completing the vaccine imported from the United Kingdom and for its initial production, in 2021, by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.

Of the 100 million doses acquired by Brazil, 15.2 million are expected to be delivered in December and another similar amount in January.

For the nearly 70 million remaining doses, “we are defining the schedule” with the AstraZeneca laboratory, responsible for developing the vaccine on British soil, where the first vaccines will only be available in January.

Brazil, South Africa and recently the United States are involved in the subsequent phases of assessing the vaccine’s efficacy in patients, after an initial successful result with 1,000 people in the UK in the preceding phase.

Pandemic on the rise in Mexico

Mexico’s Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, reported on Thursday that the total number of coronavirus deaths in the country had reached 50,517, with 462,690 total confirmed cases.

From the National Palace, he said that there are an estimated 46,681 active cases, representing people who had symptoms in the past 14 days, potentially contributing to the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In addition, there are 1,925 suspected deaths. There have also been 506,252 negative cases, 87,973 suspected cases and 308,848 patients have recovered.

The five Mexican regions with the highest number of cumulative cases by place of residence are Mexico City, State of Mexico, Tabasco, Guanajuato and Veracruz, which together account for 43.7 percent of all cases recorded in the country.

Mexico City continues to account for the majority of the country’s infections and alone represents 16.9 percent of all cases recorded by place of residence.