Half of the countries with community transmission of coronavirus are in the Americas, says WHO | Coronavirus

According to the WHO, community transmission is the contagion stage in which the origin of transmission cannot be identified and the virus is considered to be circulating in a sustained manner in that territory.

In the Americas, there is community transmission in the following countries: the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina, and Paraguay. According to the organization’s data, the Americas accounted for 35% of the world’s cases and 22.15% of deaths.

According to experts heard by the G1This concentration is related to the housing system and social habits of the countries of the continent.

“Crowded public transport, houses with a high density of people per room, rooms without ventilation and adequate structure to keep people at home, poor sanitation, lack of running water and wastewater treatment. These are some of the main challenges what we have”. , said the professor of public health and social pharmacy at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), Cláudia Fegadolli.

Even with this concentration of territories with local transmission, 40% of the countries and 84% of the American territories still register less than 100 cases of the disease. The data indicates that Central America is the least affected region, with 12 of the 14 countries with less than 100 cases: Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Guyana, Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Belize, Granada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Nicaragua.

The low concentration may reflect the low demographic and housing concentration in these regions, according to the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) professor of international relations, but also the underreporting of the region, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The region faces a paucity of evidence, especially in the poorest countries, leading to an inaccurate image of contagion on the continent, according to PAHO. For these countries, the organization plans to deliver one million PCR-type diagnostic tests by the end of the month, but has called on the rest of the continent to rush to increase the numbers performed.

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PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said Tuesday (14) that the organization is already preparing to deal with an increase in cases in the region. “Covid-19 did not reach Latin America and the Caribbean very strongly, but we expect growth in the coming weeks. We must act urgently,” Etienne said during a press conference.

Poor health system

PAHO doctors fear that the intensification of the pandemic will punish the American continent more severely due to the health conditions of the countries of the region. According to Opas, the intensive care offered remains precarious and could not withstand an overload of patients with Covid-19 complications.

Latin American and Caribbean countries are already dealing with high rates of other viral infections, such as dengue and HIV. According to the latest report on basic health indicators carried out by PAHO in 2018, the region had approximately 580,000 cases of dengue and an HIV diagnosis rate of 14.6 people for every 100,000 inhabitants in the previous year.

“In the region, we still have what we call a triple burden of disease: a situation in which the population is exposed, at the same time, to a burden of typical diseases of poverty, such as malnutrition and infectious diseases; modernity, such as hypertension and diabetes, in addition to injuries caused by external causes, accidents and violence, “says Fegadolli.

“This situation makes it even more difficult to fight the pandemic, as it forces us to take action on all of these aspects as well, and makes strategies to help people more complex.”

The continent may suffer due to the health system. The average number of doctors per 10,000 inhabitants is 21.7 for Latin America and the Caribbean, but in some countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay, Guyana and Suriname, the number is less than 10. In the United States, the rate is 26. In countries most affected by the coronavirus in Europe (Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and France), this average is 35.5.

Data from the World Health Organization, which refers to 2015, show that most American countries had between 10 and 30 hospital beds for every 10,000 inhabitants. While in Europe, countries ranged from 20 to 80.

“In caring for the sick, professionals, protective equipment, hospital beds and ICUs are lacking. In the case of Brazil, we still have SUS [Sistema Único de Saúde], which proposes to be universal and offers a wide coverage of primary care, even with all the difficulties, but it is not the reality of other countries in the region, “explains the professor.

To contain progress, countries must follow international guidelines, with a focus on social distance and attention to populations in financial danger. Fegadolli draws attention to Argentina, where “the number of cases is growing at a slow rate due to strict government measures to guarantee physical isolation.” But the response of the governments of the region is not unified, which can make the fight difficult.

“There is an ideological divide in the region and it is sharpening now. Therefore, we do not have coordinated responses from governments. This is not exclusive to South America, but this lack can bring more serious problems here, in which we depend a lot on the private health sector, ”says Professor Vinícius Vieira.

Consequences of the economic crisis.

In addition to the health challenge of fighting infection, the continent may experience a long aftermath of the economic crisis due to declining financial and commercial activities.

“As we are essentially service economies, mainly low-rated and non-exportable, we will suffer this crisis intensely. The strategies must be oriented towards the internal market, and the state must act again to stimulate the economy and guarantee income, “projects Vieira.

Furthermore, South America is highly dependent on input exports and may also be affected by this front. “International trade will take time to recover and there may not be as much demand for the products that the region has to offer,” says the professor.

Pandemic in America

As of Tuesday (14), there were more than 640,000 cases and 25,000 deaths in the American continent, but the United States represents 85% of them. The other 15% is divided among the remaining 34 countries and 19 territories, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization.

The United States was the first country in America to register cases of infection with the new coronavirus. The first case in the country was reported in the WHO bulletin on January 23.

More than a month later, the continent had 10 countries with confirmed cases on March 7. After five days, the number of countries and territories doubled and, after another week, quadrupled. Currently, all countries and territories in America have records of the new coronavirus.

Brazil was the third country to present cases, in the February 27 bulletin. And today, it is only behind the United States in the number of deaths from the disease.