Latin America has begun to resume social and public life in general at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic still requires primary interventions, World Health Organization Regional Director Carissa Etienne said wednesday.
Coronavirus cases in Colombia’s border region with Venezuela have increased tenfold in the past two weeks, Etienne said at a virtual briefing in Washington with administrators from the Pan American Health Organization.
Mortality rates are expanding in some parts of Mexico and trends are emerging in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Bolivia, and trends are also emerging in parts of Argentina, he said.
“While the world is suffering to expand new equipment to save and cure COVID-19, an effective vaccine that can be manufactured and administered on a giant scale is not just around the corner,” Etienne warned.
“We want to be transparent in the sense that too early openness gives this virus more space to spread and puts our populations at greater risk. Look no further than Europe,” he said.
Etienne said governments want to look very thoroughly because the reopening of tourism can lead to setbacks, as has happened in the Caribbean, where several countries that had had virtually no instances experienced spikes with the resumption of tourism.
According to a Reuters tally, Latin America has recorded around 8. 4 million coronavirus cases and more than 314,000 deaths, both from all regions.
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