Health workers at Tucson Medical Center stand during a ceremony to remember those who have died of the coronavirus on Jan. 19, 2021, in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo: AP-Yonhap News)
The director of the regional office of the World Health Organization in the Americas is concerned about the sustained increase in COVID-19 cases in the area.
Carissa Etienne says the rise in infections across the United States, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador is a worrying sign that the region is failing to control the pandemic.
[Clip: Etienne]
"Throughout the region, especially North and South America, many hospitals are operating at a very close to capacity. The reports from Manaus in Brazil illustrate what happens when a health system lacks enough capacity to cope with the speed of new infections."
The coronavirus death toll in the worst-hit U.S. eclipsed 400,000 on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, reaching the grim milestone in just under a year since reporting its first case.
While American officials are banking on vaccines to slow the spread of infections, a widely cited model by the University of Washington projects the death toll will reach nearly 567,000 by May.
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