Americas counted for 40% of global COVID-19 deaths last week: PAHO

On Wednesday, Pan Americal Health Organization (PAHO) stated that hospitals across the Americas are dangerously full of coronavirus patients. PAHO stated that the region did a remarkable job expanding capacity in 2020. Colombia, Panama, and the Dominican Republic doubled their ICU bed capacity. At the same time, Chile and Peru have tripled theirs and Mexico and Honduras nearly quadrupled their capabilities in just a year's time. Pan Americal Health Organization (PAHO) also stated that the Latin American countries are now reporting more than 1,000 coronavirus cases every day, which is more than ever before. PAHO also said that the hospitals in the region are fuller than ever, and the Americas is still ongoing a massive crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. PAHO stated that for much of the pandemic, the hospitals in the region were filled with elderly COVID patients, many of whom had pre-existing conditions that made them more susceptible to severe disease.

"It's an eerily familiar picture – but one thing does look different now: the patients themselves," stated PAHO in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Furthermore, PAHO added that over the last week, more than  1.3 million people were infected with COVID in the Americas, and more than 36,000 died from COVID-related complications.

It added that 1 in every four deaths caused by COVID-19 happened in the Americas, which is nearly 40% of all global COVID deaths reported last.

In the press briefing, PAHO also discussed the development of national patient management guidelines (experience) and patient management guidelines - Experiences on patient management.