WHO worried about COVID-19 rise in Caribbean states

The World Health Organization is expressed concern regarding rise in COVID-19 cases spikes in nations that had controlled outbreaks efficiently, such as Cuba and Jamaica, and 11 other Caribbean countries that have progressed from mild to severe transmission, its regional director Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday.

The good news is that measures of critical COVID-19 cases have dropped over the Americas and fewer people are being hospitalized requiring intensive care, she said in a virtual instructions from Washington with additional Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) directors.

There have been above 17 million cases and higher than 574,000 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the Americas, which has half of all patients and higher than half of all mortality worldwide.

Brazil and the United States remain to be most lethal outbreaks in the world, but community transmission continues very aggressive in the county as a whole where nations are sustaining chronic spikes in cases.

“More than half a million children and youths in our region have been contaminated and these figures proceed to rise,” she said. “Many of them are unaware they’re contaminated because they have moderate or no symptoms.”

The more moderate requirement for intensive care beds in hospitals is due in part to gaining awareness of the virus and how to handle critically ill patients, Etienne said.

The pandemic has exacerbated disparities over gender, revenue levels and race, she said.

In the United States, Black, Hispanic and Native American peoples are three times as probable to contract COVID-19 as their white equivalents, and five times as potential to be hospitalized and double more prone to die from the virus.

In the Amazon regions of Colombia and Brazil, autochthonous people are ten times more prone to catch COVID-19 than other societies, according to the WHO.

Migrants are also further exposed to the virus, and PAHO is supporting authorities in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil and Mexico outline ways to guarantee migrants have access to the diet, health care and psychic health care, the regional WHO office said.