Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and the Dominican Republic are also reporting high rates of new infections 🦠
These trends are telling. Even though COVID cases have dropped 📉 significantly over the last few months, COVID transmission is still active across our region, so every time we lower our guard, the virus 🦠 gains momentum.
In the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing its highest-ever COVID rates and at least five of its hospitals 🏥 are at over 80% capacity.
The Southern Cone countries of Chile and Argentina are also seeing a rise in new cases 🦠
Meanwhile Colombia’s tourist centers – like Bogota and Medellin – are reporting a rise 📈 in cases and hospitalizations, especially among younger people.
In the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, cases have increased by 400% following recent strikes and protests that also prevented people from accessing COVID vaccination 💉 and testing sites.
Yet, in South America, nearly every country except Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela is reporting increasing COVID 🦠 incidence, with the highest jumps in the last week occurring in Ecuador and Paraguay.
Canada’s Yukon and Northwest territories saw a two-to-three-fold increase ⬆️ in new infections over the last week.
In contrast, Central America saw a 37% reduction ⬇️ in new infections.
Most new cases 🦠 took place in North America, where both the US and Canada are reporting increasing COVID incidence rates.
Over the last week, we witnessed a 23% jump in new cases in our region 🌎
There were 880,583 new COVID infections 🦠 and more than 15,000 COVID-related deaths in the Americas in the past week.
