The Americas has quickly become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Latin American countries surpassing Europe and the United States daily number of new cases. This is according to Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the World Health Organization and head of the Pan American Health Organization.
The latest numbers from WHO on Tuesday showed that The Americas region has 2,454,452 total number of cases. The region reported 59,157 new cases in the span of 24 hours. Deaths in the region are now at 143,739 in the total count, plus 2,267 fatalities in the past 24 hours.
To note, WHO classifies the United States and Canada under The Americas region. The US has 1,618,757 total number of people with COVID-19 and 96,909 total number of deaths as of Tuesday. Canada, on the other hand, has 85,103 cases and 6,453 total deaths.
If both the stats from the US and Canada were to be removed, the highest concern is now in Brazil. The country reported the highest number of cases within a seven-day period since the outbreak began in December 2019. As of Tuesday, Brazil has 363,211 reported cases, plus new cases at 15,813 in the past 24 hours. The country has fatalities of 22,666, with new deaths of 653.
Brazil's daily death rate is currently the highest in the world. An estimate from the University of Washington placed the total number of death in the country to about 125,000 by August or about five-fold of the current number.
The Latin American country also reported higher deaths in 24 hours on Monday compared to the US. Brazil reported 807 deaths while the US reported 620 that day. Brazil has also surpassed Russia on weekend as the country with the most confirmed cases next to the US.
Brazil now is the second country next to the US with the highest number of cases, according to real-time data tracker from the Johns Hopkins University. The US has therefore banned all tourists coming from Brazil.
The problem with Brazil is that its very president, Jair Bolsonaro, is reluctant to address the pandemic. The president believes that COVID-19 is as simple as the common flu that people could just fight off. The international community described his response to the pandemic as anti-scientific, with complete disregard of his residents who have died.
Outside of Brazil, the next countries shaping to become the hotspots are Peru and Chile. According to Our World in Data or OWID the two Latin American countries now have the highest infection rates per capita over a seven-day rolling average.
As of Tuesday, these are the other countries in The Americas with more than 10,000 reported number of cases:
Peru (119 959 total cases) (4 205 new cases) (3 456 total deaths) (83 new deaths)
Chile (73 997) (4 895) (761) (43)
Mexico (68 620) (2 764) (7 394) (215)
Ecuador (37 355) (599) (3 203) (95)
Colombia (21 175) (998) (727) (22)
Dominican Republic (15 073) (272) (460) (2)
Argentina (12 076) (723) (452) (7)
Panama (10 926) (349) (306) (7)
