On Monday, a new Reuters count showed the number of coronavirus deaths in Latin America exceeding the figure of fatalities in the United States and Canada for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
Last week, the World Health Organization’s regional director Carissa Etienne warned of accelerating numbers in registered coronavirus cases in Latin America and the Caribbean. Two months ago, the United States accounted for 75% of all coronavirus cases in the Americas. While the United States remains at the top of the list of countries with most overall deaths, with 135,055 fatalities, we begin to see a different story playing out in Latin America. By Monday, the region registered 144,680 deaths, compared to 143,847 in North America. 72,100 of these deaths have occurred in Brazil, the individual country with the second highest death rate.
Three Latin American heads of state, Bolivia’s interim president Jeanine Añez, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández have tested positive for the virus. “The message is that this virus in unpredictable and does not respect race, class or people in power, despite security around any president,” Pan American Health Organization director for communicable diseases, Marcos Espinal, told Reuters.
As Etienne pointed out, some of Latin America’s most persistent problems contribute to the scale and the deadly acceleration of the virus in the region: inequality, poverty, political division and underfunded healthcare systems, particularly in remote regions. Tightly-packed areas, like Brazil’s favelas, are particularly vulnerable to the virus. Studies estimate that the number of people infected could be up to 30 times higher than the officially registered count. The dismissal of the severity of the virus by the leaders of the two most populated countries, Brazil and Mexico, has also contributed to a failure to contain it.
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments in the region to address the unprecedented impacts of the virus on Latin America, releasing a policy initiative for recovery.
Guterres’ message highlighted the crisis’ impacts on already vulnerable groups, including indigenous communities, older people, individuals with disabilities, migrants, refugees, and women. The policy brief paints a potential grim future if the crisis goes unaddressed: a 9.1% contraction in gross domestic product, the largest in a century, a surge to 13.5% of unemployment, yielding 44 million people unemployed, a jump to 37.2% of poverty and 15.5% of extreme poverty.
Additionally, Guterres called for international support to Latin America, as well as for structural change to address the “root causes” of the problems of inequality, political instability and displacement. He emphasized the strengthening of “democratic governance, human rights protection and the rule of law,” and the need for “greater accountability and transparency.”
“Together, we can overcome this crisis and build inclusive and sustainable societies for all,” the UN chief concluded.
Photo: Rodrigo Capote/Bloomberg