The new Covid-19 surge surges across Latin America

Cases are growing rapidly in Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile and even in Uruguay and Paraguay, two nations that have escaped relatively unscathed from the pandemic.

Uruguay, which had only about 10 new daily infections at the end of September, has recorded more than 500 a day so far in the last week. President Luis Lacalle Pou said the country would close its visitors’ borders during the holiday season and limit congestion and some public transport. “The second wave in the world is our first wave,” he said.

Paraguay recorded nearly 1,200 new cases a day in December, up from 150 in August, which officials say hospitals are already overwhelming in the poor country, with no access to the sea. The Minister of Health, Julio Mazzoleni, declared that the country is entering “a new very difficult stage of the pandemic”.

Colder weather in the northern hemisphere is partly to blame for the rise in cases in Mexico, forcing more people inland. But the most important factor in the whole region seems to be fatigue with social distancing measures. In Brazil, people gather more and more on the beach and at parties during the summer in the southern hemisphere.

“People have completely let their guard down – they are planning parties, traveling and paying the price,” said Eliseu Waldman, an epidemiologist at the University of São Paulo.

Latin America, with 8% of the world’s population, accounted for about a third of global Covid-19 deaths. Brazil has more than 184,000 deaths, second only to 312,000 in the United States.

The true value of the pandemic – including people who have died from Covid-19 but has not been included in official country taxes – is much higher. The three countries with the highest excess mortality this year – the number of people who died compared to previous years – are all in Latin America: Peru, Ecuador and Mexico.

In a strong change of tone from previous months, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged Mexicans to stay home for the next 10 days as the Christmas holidays approach. His government is in a hurry to help the capital increase the capacity of hospitals.

Public hospitals in Mexico City occupied 80% on Thursday, the highest rate of the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Health.

“I heard that the beds were running out, so I decided to come. But it seems too late, ”said 42-year-old Adela Rayón, who brought her 70-year-old father Alfredo to Mexico City General Hospital, one of the largest in America. Latin, but was rejected. He spoke with tears.

Many health workers are preparing for what they say will be the saddest Christmas. “This feels like an endless nightmare,” said Javier Hernandez, an emergency physician at Hospital 72 of the Mexican National Health Service.

The mayor of Cali, Colombia, where 90 percent of hospital beds are occupied, implemented a “red alert” order this week, which includes a restriction on alcohol sales between 11 p.m. and 5 p.m.

The port and resort of Cartagena, Colombia, banned sailors from disembarking their boats, banned them from sunbathing or swimming on its Caribbean beaches, and closed all nightclubs until mid-January.

Claudia Lopez, the mayor of Bogotá, pleads with the citizens to keep their family reunions virtually this year. “If you’re thinking of a family reunion, let it be just your nuclear family,” she said.

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients in public hospitals have a capacity of 92%, city officials said. While the seven-day average of daily deaths in Brazil – at 723 on Thursday, according to World Our in Data – is still below the peak of 1,097 at the end of July, cases and deaths are rising.

While many countries in the region have ordered vaccines, a large-scale vaccination campaign is many months away. Some countries, such as Mexico, do not expect most people to be vaccinated by the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022.

Many younger Brazilians, frustrated after months in prison and confident that they will not make it to hospital beds, are violating government guidelines and returning to bars and parties. While cities have tried to impose new restrictions, with São Paulo banning units from serving alcohol after 8pm, many bars have broken these rules after barely escaping bankruptcy during previous closures.

“People are not letting go,” said Chi Yen Chang, a 33-year-old student from São Paulo, who said 12 of his 20- and 30-year-old friends were planning a hedonistic trip to Rio for New Year’s Eve. . While the city canceled the official events, the partygoers organized their own gatherings on social networks.

In Peru, another country heavily affected by the pandemic, the focal point for new infections at the moment is Piura, a northern coastal state with popular beach resorts, which normally attract tourists during the holidays. The positivity rate for Covid-19 tests in some municipalities is close to 100%, partly due to limited testing, according to state government data.

The intensive care unit at Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Piura, which was overwhelmed when the pandemic hit Peru in March, is full again, said Dr. Walter Cruz, an emergency physician. “There is a significant increase, we are really at the beginning of a second wave,” he said.

—Ryan Dube of Lima, Peru, and Kejal Vyas of Bogotá, Colombia, contributed to this article.

Write to Juan Montes at [email protected] and Samantha Pearson at [email protected]