On Tuesday, the Pan American Health Organization or PAHO said, Latin America has surpassed the United States and Europe in terms of the daily number of reported COVID-19 cases.The said information PAHO shared has put the region at the center of the worldwide pandemic. Specifically, according to Dr. Carissa Etienne during a press briefing, there had been over 2.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 140,000 fatalities in all of the Americas. She also said that Latin America has turned out to be the "epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis." Etienne expressed PAHO's particular concern about Brazil where the figures recorded and reported for new cases last week "was the highest" for a week since the pandemic started.

Chile and Peru, Etienne explained, have also reported a high number of COVID-19 cases. She also warned that for nations in the region, this is not the right time to relax COVID-19 restrictions. Now is not the time too, she added, to scale back preventive measures.

Latin America's Worst Hit Countries

As of this writing, Chile has recorded 77,961 confirmed cases and 806 deaths from the time the pandemic started. Two of the Chilean government leaders reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after they showed mild symptoms. The said officials included Alfredo Moreno, Public Works Minister, and Juan Carlos Jobet, Minister of Energy. Meanwhile, in Peru, the virus has infected 123,979 people and killed 3,629

Given the numbers, the two nations have been considered among the worst hit in Latin America as they currently hold the "highest infection rates per capita of the world" over what Our World in Data or OWID reported "a seven-day rolling average." OWID is an independent statistics website with headquarter at Oxford University. Over the weekend, based on the figures from Johns Hopkins University, Brazil surpassed Russia, turning out to be the nation that has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases following the United States.

As of this writing, the country has recorded 374,898 contagions in all, and 23,622 mortalities, the health ministry said.

Deaths Surge Forecast in the Region

Like what Etienne said, Latin America has turned out to be COVID-19 pandemic's epicenter as the other directors of PAHO cautioned, there may be "very tough weeks" to come for the region and specifically, "Brazil has a long way to go" before it sees an end for this global health crisis. Aside from that, of concern to officials of the World Health Organization, are the increasing contagions in other LatAm nations such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, and Peru. Moreover, as the daily death toll of Brazil turned out to be the world's highest early this week, a study by the University of Washington warned, that the total number of fatalities could increase "five-fold to 125,000 by early august."

The prediction from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation or IHME of the university occurred with a call for lockdowns that Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, has refused. The most recent model forecasts of IHME see death tolls going up to almost "4,500 in Colombia, 5,500 in Argentina, 6,000 in Ecuador, 7,000 in Mexico and 12,000 in Chile by August."

Meanwhile, in Cuba, a country in Latin America which is reportedly doing relatively well in combating the pandemic, IHME predicts a death toll of only 82, also by August, as COVID-19 testing continues to beat the outbreak.

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