After six consecutive weeks of increasing deaths from coronavirus in the Americas, last week there was a decrease in deaths for the first time since the beginning of the arrival of omicronreported this Wednesday the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Specifically, a 9% reduction in deaths from the disease was reported, as 29,000 deaths were reported.
Likewise, infections had a decrease in relation to the previous week of 28% after registering 2.2 million new cases in the regionDr. Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO, explained at a telematic press conference from Washington.
However, “many places continue to face the peak of the wave of infections”, so “due to the rapid spread of omicron and the possibility of new variants emerging social measures have to continue”, considered the doctor.
In the case of North America, although infections were reduced by a third, in Mexico a 70% increase in new infections was detected. As for deaths, though also fell in the United States“The figures are still among the highest recorded during the pandemic,” Etienne said.
In Central America, deaths fell by 17%. However, in Nicaragua infections increased by a third and in Honduras admissions to intensive care units and deaths from covid-19 also continued to increase.
In South America this was also seen downward trend in deathsby 13%, although some countries continue to face the peak of the omicron wave, as is the case of Chile, where ICU admissions accelerated by a quarter and deaths increased by 37%.
The Caribbean, especially vulnerable
In its weekly report, PAHO warned that the focus continues to be on the Caribbean, where cases decreased 44% over the past weekbut where more than half of the 13 countries and territories that reported an increase in deaths are located.
While in the Bahamas, the virus continues to affect vulnerable groups, the vaccination campaign against coronavirus in the Caribbean has managed to reach 63% of peoplealthough it is a context “of many contrasts”.
For example, 91% of the target population in the Cayman Islands is fully vaccinated, while less than 1% of Haitians have the full immunization schedule.
Regarding vaccination data throughout the American continent, Etienne specified that almost 700 million people have the complete guideline.
In this way, “the Caribbean remains especially vulnerable to covid-19″, warned Etienne, who in turn insisted that “underestimating the virus only feeds the pandemic” and advocated promoting vaccination in the Caribbean region with actions focused on bringing immunization centers closer to people and investing in personnel and infrastructure.
“We do not know when this pandemic will end, but what we do know is that vaccination is the best way to protect ourselves from the disease and deaths caused by covid-19,” recalled the doctor in charge of PAHO.
Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO expert on the coronavirus, expressed himself along the same lines, recalling that “even if there are upticks, the impact of the pandemic will decrease globally in terms of burden of severe disease and deaths, but that will vary from country to country depending on vaccination coverage.”
“Vaccines are now more available and we must take advantage of this expansion to improve vaccination coverage, with the focus on the high-risk population,” Etienne concluded.
Last week, PAHO indicated that the drastic reduction in the numbers of infections and hospitalizations by covid-19 they were the first signs of decline in the aggressive wave caused by the omicron variant. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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