COVID-19 soars in Latin America despite tight measures

BOGOTA, Colombia/BUENOS AIRES

After months of confinement and social distancing, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are facing an increase in COVID-19 cases, economic crisis, and fatigue due to extensive quarantines.

Social unrest has been reflected in several demonstrations against quarantine measures and pots and pans have been heard in protest in Argentina and Colombia.

Argentina

It is set to complete 100 days of confinement Sunday and with an exponential growth in COVID-19 cases in recent days, the government decided to tighten measures starting Monday until July 17 in the capital of Buenos Aires, the epicenter of the pandemic.

Measures are aimed at restricting movement and preventing people from using public transportation to stop the spread of the virus, which has increased due to a lack of control.

Doctors predict coronavirus cases will peak in July as winter progresses, which could push hospital capacity to the limit as infections accelerate to more than 50,000 cases.

Peru

Authorities reported 43,000 indigenous people are exposed to the virus in the Amazon region.

"The rapid spread of COVID-19 in the Amazon department puts at serious risk the health and lives of approximately 43,000 citizens who identify themselves as part of the Awajún, Quechua and Wampis indigenous peoples, who live in 389 communities," said a statement from the Peruvian Ombudsman's Office, which reported 63 indigenous deaths.

Peru, the first country in Latin America to impose a national and mandatory quarantine to stop the COVID-19 outbreak, completed 100 days of confinement this week. However, it is the sixth country in the world for confirmed cases, with more than 270,000 and almost 9,000 deaths.

Mexico

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that although feminism has a just cause to change the role of women, the tradition of women staying at home to take care of older family members was important in battling the pandemic. Those comments sparked criticism as being sexist.

Mexico has surpassed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths and 200,000 cases, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

Brazil

The second worst-hit country by the virus confirmed 990 additional deaths in the last 24 hours, according to health authorities.

Officials said the death toll hit 55,961.

The number of cases increased to 1,274,974 with 46,860 more infections.

The country's commercial center, Sao Paulo, with a population of 46 million, is the most affected region by the pandemic, with 258,508 cases and 13,966 deaths.

Brazil, with a population exceeding 211 million, is the epicenter of the outbreak in the region.