While the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be showing signs of a decline in Europe, it is in full swing in Latin America. In Brazil, the balance sheet of the epidemic exceeded for the first time the 1000 dead in 24 hours, Tuesday, May 19.  

Five months after the appearance in China of this disease which killed more than 320,000 people worldwide, Brazil became the third country in the world on Monday in number of infections. And he recorded Tuesday a daily toll of 1,179 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. 

This increase brought the total death toll to 17,971 in Brazil, which deplores more than half of the more than 30,000 deaths recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

>> To see: Populism and pandemic: the Brazilian shock

In addition, many experts consider the ministerial figures to be greatly underestimated, with Brazil sorely lacking in tests. 

If the trend is confirmed in the coming days, Brazil will experience a phase of acceleration of the pandemic, the peak of which is not expected by experts until early June.

The intensive care units of hospitals in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ceara, Amazonas or Pernambuco are very close to saturation. That of Sao Paulo, the economic capital of Brazil with 46 million inhabitants, alone recorded 5,147 deaths, or almost a third of deaths across the country. These states have decreed the containment of their populations, but without coercive measures.

Chile and Nicaragua hit hard

Other Latin American countries are also recording strong increases in Covid-19. 

This is the case of Chile, 18 million inhabitants, which experienced its strongest increase in contamination (3,520) and deaths (31) on Tuesday in 24 hours. "We are in a very complex, very difficult time," said Health Minister Jaime Mañalich. 

The army is deployed in poor neighborhoods of Santiago, where clashes with the police took place, the population asking for aid to fight against hunger. 

Nicaragua, 6 million people, also recorded a strong increase in infections, with 254 cases, 10 times more than a week ago, and 17 deaths, announced Tuesday the Minister of Health, Martha Reyes . 

Again, the official figures are far from those of NGOs which report more than a thousand contaminations. 

In Colombia, the general confinement imposed for two months is extended until May 31 and the state of health emergency until August 31.

Gradual reductions in Europe 

In Europe, the pandemic is considered to be under control, daily reports are generally down, and the trend is to gradually lift, more or less rapid depending on the country, severe restrictions taken at the height of the health crisis. 

Five central European countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) plan to open the borders between them around mid-June. 

Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece have agreed to ease travel restrictions in effect since mid-March from mid-June.  

In Spain, Barcelona is due to reopen parks and beaches on Wednesday for walkers - but not bathers. 

After Italy, which announced on Saturday that it will reopen its borders to tourists from the European Union from June 3 and will cancel the compulsory quarantine for foreign visitors, Greece must present its plan for the resumption of the season on Wednesday. touristic. 

Europe has a total of more than 168,000 dead, according to a report established by AFP from official sources Tuesday at 7 p.m. GMT. 

Africa, with less than 3,000 deaths and some 88,000 cases, is currently relatively unscathed by the pandemic, which is progressing less quickly than expected. 

For the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, "this slowness is largely due to the fact that most African governments and societies have taken very courageous preventive measures in time, which are a lesson for some countries developed who haven't. "

With AFP

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