The Covid-19 offers no respite to Latin America, which is swimming in the middle of a nightmare. Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico are among the ten countries with the highest number of new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

"Clearly, the situation in many Latin American countries is far from stabilized," said Michael Ryan, director of health emergencies at WHO.

"There has been a rapid increase in cases and these (health) systems are under pressure," he said at a virtual press conference in Geneva, expressing particular concern for Haiti.

>> Watch our special program: "Brazil, the epicenter of Covid-19 in Latin America"

Measures taken in scattered order in Brazil

The pandemic has killed at least 373,439 people and infected 6.3 million people worldwide since its onset in December in China, according to a report by AFP from official sources Monday at 7 p.m. GMT.

In Brazil, a giant of 210 million inhabitants where the death toll is close to 30,000 dead, containment measures or, on the contrary, deconfinement measures are taken there in dispersed order according to states or cities. And President Jair Bolsonaro regularly calls for the lifting of restrictions to preserve the economy and jobs.

In Rio de Janeiro, the municipality announced Monday a plan to gradually return to activity, the first measures of which take effect on Tuesday. Religious ceremonies can resume and individual water sports, such as surfing or swimming, are again allowed on the miles of beaches in the "Wonderful City". But no one can stay on the sand.

The state of Sao Paulo, the first source of coronavirus in Brazil but also its economic engine, began cautiously starting a gradual deconfinement plan on Monday.

>> See our Debate: "Covid-19 in Brazil: Bolsonaro responsible?"

Peru lacks oxygen

Other Latin American countries continue to see an expansion of the disease. In Mexico, the balance sheet crossed Monday the threshold of 10 000 dead even as the country also begins the resumption of its economic activity.

Peru surpassed 170,000 confirmed cases and 4,600 deaths on Monday, putting the health system of this country of 33 million people on the brink of collapse. Peru is notably facing a shortage of oxygen.

"Some hospitals ask (patient families) to bring their own oxygen, because unfortunately there is not enough for all patients," said the Dean of the Council of the College on a television channel. doctors from Lima, Juan Astuvilca.

The United States, for its part, surpassed 105,000 deaths on Monday, a toll that makes it, and by far, the country in the world hardest hit by the pandemic .

With AFP

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