The coronavirus is surging “dangerously” across Brazil, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for the Americas, Carissa Etienne, warned on Tuesday, urging all Brazilians to adopt preventive measures to stop the spread, Reuters reports.

“Unfortunately, the dire situation in Brazil is also affecting neighbouring countries,” Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), said in a briefing.

Covid-19 cases have risen in Venezuela’s Bolivar and Amazonas states, and in border regions of Peru and Bolivia, she said.

The virus variant first discovered in Brazil known as P1, which experts say is more contagious than the original coronavirus strain, has now been detected in 15 countries in the Americas and become a major cause for concern, PAHO incident manager Sylvain Aldighieri said.