By Aislinn Laing and Lucila Sigal
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – The novel coronavirus pandemic is showing “no signs of slowing down” in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization director said on Tuesday, with the virus landing in Guianese shield countries on the continent`s northeastern coast and surges in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.
Carissa Etienne told a virtual briefing from PAHO’s Washington base that some central American nations were seeing their highest weekly increase of cases since the virus landed, and that because of the high burden of infectious diseases and chronic conditions in the Americas, three out of ten people – 325 million – were at “increased risk” of developing complications from COVID-19.
(Reporting by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
