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Situational Highlights
The Americas continue to shoulder the world’s heaviest burden of COVID-19, with the region accounting for over 38% of the total of new cases reported globally in the past days. However, the region reported a 22% decrease in the number of new deaths over the same period.
According to WHO, seven of the 12 countries reporting the highest numbers of new cases are in the Americas: United States of America (with 7 million cases), Brazil (4.7 million), Colombia (806,000), Peru (800,000), Mexico (726,000),
Argentina (702,000 cases) and Chile (457,000). The decrease in the number of deaths in the region was largely driven by a fall in the number of deaths in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia. In Argentina, the number of new cases has spiraled rapidly, with 40% of tests for the illness coming back positive in recent weeks.
Venezuela has reported 71,940 cases and 600 deaths. Panama is reporting more than 110,000 cases, and, with over 3,200 deaths, Guatemala is the country with most coronavirus fatalities in Central America. According to the latest epidemiological update from the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, 60,458 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been recorded among pregnant women in 14 countries throughout the region. Of those cases, 485 – or a bit under 1% - led to deaths, according to PAHO.
Among indigenous populations in nine Latin American countries as well as the United States and Canada, 120,593 confirmed cases and 2,639 deaths were reported as of 26 August.
Asylum applications are on the rise in Mexico, with 26,255 claims as of 18 September. Peru, which launched a remote application system last June, has registered 30,280 asylum claims. As of end August, Panama received 600 new asylum applications – down from the previous year. In Uruguay, 91 asylum claims were received from 24 August to 18 September. In Costa Rica, appointments for registering new asylum claims have been pushed back to December, 2020