The novel coronavirus pandemic is showing “no signs of slowing down” in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organisation's director said on Tuesday, with the virus landing in Guianese shield countries on the continent's northeastern coast and surges in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, according to Reuters.

Carissa Etienne told a virtual briefing from PAHO's Washington headquarters that some Central American nations were seeing their highest weekly increase of cases since the virus landed, and that because of the high burden of infectious diseases and chronic conditions in the Americas, three out of 10 people — 325 million — were at “increased risk” of developing complications from Covid-19.

“The impact of co-morbidities on the spread of the virus should be a clarion call to every country in the Americas: Use data to tailor your response and make health your top priority,” she said.

She highlighted 900,000 new cases and nearly 22,000 deaths reported in the region over the past week, most of them in Brazil, Mexico and the United States.