COVID-19 ravages South America: eight times more deaths than anywhere else

The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc in much of the world, but it continues in South America. On this continent, only 5 percent. of the world’s population, but even a quarter of the planet’s deaths from COVID-19.

Almost a million people have already died in twelve countries. Last weekend, with another catastrophic wave, half a million deaths were passed through Brazil, where, on average, the virus kills seven times more people every day than in India.

Colombia and Argentina, which together number 95 million people, register three times more deaths every day than in Africa as a whole.

And overall, of the 10 countries in the world with the highest coronavirus death rates, seven are in South America. The continent has an average of eight times more deaths than the rest of the world.

What determines this? According to experts, people in the region are vaccinated slowly and are simply more obese (this increases the risk of becoming seriously infected) than people in Africa or Asia. In addition, cities are overcrowded and the most contagious variants of the coronavirus spread more quickly.

Finally, health systems in many states have always been quite fragile. Add in the populists who are no longer trying to control the pandemic, and the outlook becomes extremely bleak.

Political unrest vibrates

“While COVID-19 infections and deaths are declining in the United States and elsewhere, South America is now at the epicenter of a pandemic,” said Denise Garrett, an epidemiologist who has worked at the Centers for Control and US Disease Prevention for more than 20 years.

Most importantly, the effect of the pandemic will be felt in South America for many years to come. The virus is estimated to have pushed millions of people into poverty, devastated countries’ economies, and deprived many children of the opportunity to go to school for more than a year.

Also, as elsewhere, some overcrowded hospitals had to postpone scheduled procedures for, for example, people diagnosed with cancer. It’s clear that a host of other health problems will simply flare up in the region in the next few years.

The virus has pushed millions back into poverty, devastated countries’ economies and deprived many children of the opportunity to go to school for more than a year.

In South America, the anger of citizens at the impotence of the government is also growing. Anger also increases the likelihood of political unrest.

Stormy protests have already rocked Colombia, where more than 100,000 have died since the third wave. people. The behavior of the scandalous Brazilian President Jairo Bolsonar, who has long despised the pandemic, will be investigated in parliament and demonstrations in big cities are also on the rise.

Dissatisfied people in Peru have elected Pedro Castillo, leader of the Peru Libre Marxist party, as president, and in Chile, leftist groups are now drafting a new constitution.

The worst death rates in the world from COVID-19 are found in Paraguay, which has no access to the sea or the ocean, with up to 19 times more deaths per capita than in the United States.

In turn, in Colombia, where 50 million people live. people, about 4,2 thousand registered last week. 50% of deaths from coronavirus. more than in Africa, although there are, of course, many deaths not covered by COVID-19.

Life-saving mistakes

Some countries in the region, such as Chile, have vaccinated their populations very quickly, although with less effective Chinese vaccines. But so far, less than a tenth of people in South America have been vaccinated.

Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), recently called on G7 leaders to accelerate their commitment of $ 1 billion to developing countries. vaccine doses by the end of 2022.

The United States White House has announced that it will transfer $ 500 million to 92 states. Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines, but only Bolivia and Guyana are found here in South America.

“We have been living in a crisis for several months. If the international community does not help, the recovery will move into the distant future, “acknowledged Etienne.

In Argentina, where the number of infections has quadrupled since February, President Alberto Fernández has been criticized for not providing the country with more vaccines. Almost a third of the country’s population has been vaccinated with at least one dose, but in both cases, only 8 percent.

Last year, the Peruvian government was so certain that there would be no second wave that it even canceled agreements to build new plants to produce oxygen cylinders.

“I think the government has completely forgotten me,” said Kitty Sanju, a 73-year-old English teacher who was vaccinated with the first dose in April and is still waiting for the second.

In some countries, governments, seeing that it is practically impossible to close people at home, have decided, both openly and secretly, to wait for so-called herd immunity to develop. The result is endless deaths.

Víctor Zamora, who served as Peru’s health minister at the beginning of the pandemic, now claims that last year the government was so sure there would be no second wave that it even canceled agreements to build new plants to produce oxygen cylinders. . The consequences of such a decision, again, were fatal.

“It just came to our attention then. For some reason, the authorities believed that we had already achieved herd immunity,” said V. Zamora.

The problem of being overweight

The situation in Peru now is extremely bad. 32 million Up to 190,000 people have been registered in a country with a population of Coronavirus deaths are three times higher than in South Africa, where there are significantly more people.

When infections began to increase rapidly last year in the Amazon city of Manaus in the Amazon, Brazilian President Bolsonaro also urged local officials to test the idea of ​​herd immunity: he condemned both the quarantine and the use of face masks. .

According to experts, it was as a result of such actions that the healthcare system simply collapsed and an aggressive strain of the Gamma coronavirus formed in Manaus, which is currently wreaking havoc throughout South America. In Brazil, more than 2,000 are registered daily. deceased.

In addition, São Paulo, the largest metropolis on the continent, has more than 300,000. people did not receive a second dose of COVID-19. They are believed to be afraid or forget, or even become infected with the coronavirus while they wait.

Epidemiologists warn that this trend, not coming for the second dose, is dangerous. Because Brazil and other countries rely mainly on the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine, some studies show that it is not very effective in a single dose.

São Paulo, the largest city on the continent, has more than 300,000 people did not receive a second dose of COVID-19.

Eventually, the outbreaks were helped by extremely densely populated metropolitan cities. It’s also a growing problem with being overweight, as research shows that COVID-10 poses a particularly high risk for obese people.

About 60 percent. people in South America weigh more than they should. Furthermore, the average age of people on the continent is 31, which means that they are less resistant to serious diseases than, for example, people in Africa.

It is true that in Brazil alone, some 2,000 people died from COVID-19. people under 19 years of age.