More than half of global coronavirus deaths last week from Americas: PAHO

Infections of coronavirus have been alarmingly increasing in the US, and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has revealed that more than half of global deaths caused by coronavirus have been in the US.

“More than half of all global deaths reported over the last week were in the Americas – a sober reminder of the human toll of this pandemic,” PAHO’s director, Carissa Etienne, said.

“Over the last week, the United States, Brazil and Argentina were among the 10 countries in the world registering the highest number of new infections worldwide,” Etienne added.

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PAHO has declared South America to be the most worrisome region in the Americas where cases have been alarmingly increasing in the past month. Bolivia and Columbia, especially, saw double the number of cases in the past week.

The region has registered more than 1.3 million new cases and nearly 37,000 deaths by coronavirus in the past week.

What has also worried PAHO is that areas such as Guatemala and Honduras have barely vaccinated one per cent of the population.

Etienne also used the opportunity to raise awareness about helping third world countries that are struggling to secure vaccines and are seeing an alarming increase in coronavirus cases due to poor health infrastructure and staggering sanitisation.

“Effectively fighting COVID-19 is impossible without addressing some of these inequalities and supporting the most vulnerable as they struggle to protect themselves,” she said. “On World Health Day, we urge countries to make equity the guiding force of their COVID response.’