The World Health Organization has warned that South America is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic as it is currently outpacing Europe and the U.S. in the number of daily COVID-19 infections.
During a virtual press conference on Tuesday, the WHO director of the Washington-based Pan American Health Organization, Carissa Etienne, said the agency was particularly concerned that the number of new cases reported last week in Brazil was the highest for a seven-day period since the outbreak began.
Brazil has recorded more than 391,000 infections and over 24,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University, second to the U.S. in confirmed cases.
The WHO stressed now is not the time for Latin American countries to ease restrictions.
The announcement came as a U.S. study projected that deaths will surge in Brazil and other Latin American nations through August.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
