Coronavirus cases exceed 7M in Latin America, Caribbean

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Six months after the first coronavirus case was reported in the Latin America and Caribbean region, the pandemic has left more than 265,000 dead and over 7 million infected.

Countries in the region are gradually opening sectors of very weakened economies while coronavirus cases are still growing steadily.

Brazil

Brazil is the second worst-hit country in the world with nearly 3.7 million cases and 117,665 deaths, and the epidemiological curve is still growing in many areas.

A hospital in Brazil said Tuesday that it is looking into seven possible cases of COVID-19 reinfection.

The Hospital das Clínicas, in the city of São Paulo, indicated that the seven patients are being subjected to clinical exams after presenting symptoms and testing positive "in two different periods."

Colombia

Colombia will enter a period of “selective” quarantine in September, the government announced.

Restaurants and bars are set to open and domestic flights will resume while cases are still increasing in many regions of the country.

“On Sept. 1, a new phase begins where we change the concept of preventative obligatory isolation with a large number of exceptions to a concept of selective isolation, of distancing, of individual responsibility,” President Ivan Duque said in a televised broadcast.

Colombia will participate in phase three COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials to be conducted by US company Johnson & Johnson.

The country has reported 562,113 cases and 17,889 deaths.

Argentina

Argentina posted a record daily rise of 10,550 confirmed COVID-19 cases Wednesday, said health authorities, reaching 370,188 cases and 7,839 deaths.

Authorities in the capital Buenos Aires, which has the highest number of infections, extended lockdown restrictions until the end of August.