The Virus Explodes in Latin America

and it's been on the market for decades. A studied by University of Oxford research chers found that patients who needed breathing support were less likely to die over a period of four weeks when they were on the drug. For patients who weren't unventilators or oxygen therapy, there was no benefit. A number of anti inflammatory drugs are being studied around the world for helping coronavirus patients cope with a powerful immune system over reaction sometimes called a cytokind storm.

Texas reached a record level of COVID nineteen hospitalizations, with the biggest daily jump since June four, according to state Health Department data. Meanwhile, Florida reported that new cases rose to the highest level since the pandemic began. They are among several states for the coronavirus outbreak is worsening. Finally, Beijing has raised its COVID nineteen emergency response to the

second highest level after coronavirus infection cases researched. According to China Central Television, all schools will restore online courses and college students will stop returning to campus. And now Today's main story. As the pandemic spreads around the world, new hotspots are emerging. Coronavirus is spiking in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere, and health experts have called Latin America the

new epicenter of the pandemic. The America's with more than three point eight million reported cases, is now the hardest hit region in the world, but the impact has been uneven. Some countries have successfully slowed the rate of new infections, others see that rate continuing to climb. Bloomberg Senior editor Jason Gale spoke with the World Health Organizations half official for the region to find out what makes some populations especially vulnerable. Dr Carrissa Ettian is director of the Pan

American Health Organization. She says the United States has the most cases, but other parts of the region are seeing an uptick in cases as well. We are seeing rising levels of transmission, some of them exponentially in Brazil, in Chile and Peru, in South America, in Mesoamerica, in Mexico or So Panama and Costa Rica. At the start of the pandemic, Latin American countries closed their borders and issued physical distancing measures, but Carissa says the virus eventually came

in with returning travelers. So the early cases of COVID nineteen, we're returning national who had been to Europe holiday in um Spain and Italy and France for the most spat and then they were returning home and we're being diagnosed. These initial cases often had the space and financial resources to self isolate, so it was easy to control the spread. But Chris says eventually COVID reached poor and vulnerable communities

where transmission was much harder to contain. That was especially the case in crowded urban areas within adequate access to water and sanitation. In money of our our vulnerable populations. They belong to an informal economy, so they have to go out every day. They must go out every day for their livelihood, and they share public transportation. They cannot implement physical distancing. There is no facility for hand washing.

So in fact, all of the all of the public measures that we are insisting to to be able to protect yourself, they can't. Chris says, there's another reason why the poor have disproportionately suffered from this outbreak. They don't have significant access to health services, even when when the government says, well, you can come to health services and and it's free, but they are so not used to run into a health service for a car, for a hold because normally they would have to pay, or the

services so far away from them. So so that's that's complicates really the efforts of the government to slow the transmission. Chris says, the coronavirus is exposing vulnerabilities amongst certain racial and ethnic groups, the migrant population, the urban urban population that are living in low income areas for descendance, so the black population in Latin America is a vulnerable group

as well. We saw around the Amazon Basin. We are seeing really large number of outbreaks with large number of cases. The two most vulnerable groups and even Brazil is your Afro descendant population under indigenous population, and when they catch the coronavirus, they're more likely to get sicker because they already suffer from higher rates of tuberculosis, diabetes, and chronic diseases known to increase the severity of COVID nineteen, and

that also makes them potentially more infectious. They when they come into contact with the COVID nineteen case, it just spreads it in that community. Chris And says Latin America is also experiencing arising cases because countries don't have sufficient access to gloves, face masks, and other personal protective equipment or PPE he needed to keep healthcare workers safe. It isn't made locally and shortages have led to infections among

healthcare workers. The percentage rates different from countries to countries. But yes, we are seeing a moderate level of infection of healthcare workers because they have no PPS, because they have to reuse PPS because so um that is a problem. Still, criticists. Some Caribbean nations have managed to contain transmission. They are small population, but they very early. They instituted very strict public health measures. They closed their borders, they instituted lockdowns,

UM severe social distancing. They did a lot of risk communications as well. They were prepared with testing, they did contact tracing, the isolated and the quarantine. They were perfect

public health uh case. And I think what has helped they in the Speaking Caribbean as well, all of them have well developed primary healthcare UM systems with public health and so they have already healthcare workers in the districts who are trained to do contact tracing, who are trained to UM, to visit m do home visiting to UM. They know where the population lives and who they are.

Chris says the intensity of COVID nineteen differs across the Americas and there's no uniformity and when transmission will peak by in large cases a still rising, and modeling predicts that might continue for some weeks, certainly for countries in Latin America and the twelve countries or so, that we will continue to see UM rise rising transmissions and probably the next three or four weeks. Yeah, so in Haiti we probably will see peaking maybe in six weeks or

five weeks. You know what whats us and concerns, as is that even with the rising transmission um some countries are looking to open up to lacks the stay at home measures and more people entering the workplace, entering society. Chrissa was responsible for drawing up the Regent's plan for an influenza pandemic in two thousands six. She says the

coronavirus pandemic is nothing like should imagine. COVID nineteen has taught her a couple of things, the importance of a solid primary health system and equitable access to health care. I have characterized this pandemic as a crisis of health, a crisis of the economy, and a social crisis. And I think as we go forward, we need to plan differently. So we need to do social inclusion and and and

look after people's people's needs much better. But I think we need to think going forward and with an approach that is based on equity, on human rights and solidarity, because really countries cannot think of going it alone. They have to come together, they have to share experiences. While economic development has been a major priority for many countries in the Americas, the pandemic has shown how quickly and devastatingly a virus can undermine years, if not decades, of prosperity.

Chrissa says she's no doubt the world will face more pandemics. What's important is that we learn the lessons from this one. That was Jason Gale in Melbourne, and that's our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from around the world, visit bloomberg dot com Flash Coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rate on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more

listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topher foreheads Jordan gas Pure, Magnus Hendrickson and me Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Jason Gale. Original music by Leo Sidran. Our editors are Francesco Lead and Rick Shine. Francesco Lead is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.