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Why tequila is becoming scarce in Mexico, why the rain forest is particularly suffering from the crisis and who has the crown epidemic under control: 5 responses to the situation in Latin America.
Indian leads llamas (Lama glama) loaded with sacks, Andes, near Cusco, Peru, South America
As Europe slowly eases the quarantine and prepares for the post-Covid-19 time, corona infections peak in Latin America. But some things on the great continent work differently than in Europe. Our correspondent explains how Latinos are dealing with the crisis.
Costa Rica. The Central American country with just under five million inhabitants has the lowest mortality rate (0.85 percent): six deaths among 792 infected people. Travel destination Costa Rica has been more attentive to tourists since the pandemic alert of the World Health Organization (WHO) and was able to count on the support of the travel industry. When the first two American tourists with cough tested positive, the government immediately imposed an entry ban and a strict quarantine that largely followed the population. Other factors may be that the minister of health is an epidemiologist and that Costa Rica traditionally invests heavily (6 percent of the gross domestic product) in health. Costa Rica is also a leader in the production of antisera due to its experience with venomous snakes, a technique the country is now testing against Covid-19.
Beer is becoming scarce because, according to the government, it is not one of the systemically important products. Therefore, the breweries had to close or switch to the production of hand gel. Tequila boomed in demand: consumption increased in both Mexico and the United States. Perhaps also because rumors sometimes circulated that the high-strength brandy was working against the virus. Producers fear that there may be bottlenecks in the medium term. This is because the bat fertilizes the blue agave, the base material for the brandy. However, news from China that the virus may have originated from bats triggered hunting of nocturnal mammals in some rural communities in central Mexico.
On Mother’s Day weekend, when a record number of Brazilians became infected, he drove his boat on a lake near the Presidential Palace in Brasilia Aquamoto and took selfies with fans. However, he had canceled a barbecue party again. Otherwise, Bolsonaro is busy destroying the rain forest. According to official figures, deforestation increased by 51 percent in the first quarter. His cabinet is trying to pass an urgent law in Congress that will legalize illegal land grabbing in recent years.
There is not. One of the main critical points is the Amazon, which refutes the theory that the virus cannot withstand high temperatures. Hospitals have collapsed in Peru (Iquitos), as well as in Colombia (Leticia) and Brazil (Manaus). When nothing happened in Brazil, the sick desperately sought help in neighboring countries. So, the virus probably reached Leticia and Iquitos, both cities that can only be reached by plane or boat.
The immune system of lamas and other camelids produces a certain type of nanoantibody, which can be used as a kind of master key against all possible viruses. Scientists have been investigating this for a long time. There is also a medicine that is used against a rare disorder in blood clotting. Last week, the scientific journal “Cell” published a study by the Universities of Ghent in Belgium and Austin, Texas, according to which the flames infected with SARS and MERS-Vien produced antibodies that could later transmit SARS-Cov -2 viruses block and prevent entry into the host cell. A kind of protective flame shield.
