While some countries enjoy a relaxation of public health measures against COVID-19, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) is reminding the region that the pandemic is not yet over.
During PAHO’s weekly briefing on COVID-19 in the Americas on Wednesday, Director of Health Emergencies Dr Ciro Ugarte acknowledged that some countries have left the suppression of the coronavirus to individuals.
However, Ugarte said controlling transmission must be a shared responsibility between the people of a country and local authorities. After two-and-a-half years of the pandemic, he said countries adjust their approach by looking at health, social and economic factors.
But as several countries in the world, including some in this region, see increasing cases, authorities are re-implementing the use of masks in public areas, among other measures.
“In many countries, particularly in the Caribbean, immunisation coverage, particularly for COVID-19, is still low in several areas. So that sends an indication that if we relax the public health measures, we give the opportunity for the virus to transmit from one person to another, and it may lead to the appearance of a new variant. That is why this pandemic is lasting too long,” Ugarte said.
The region recorded over 1.3 million new cases in the last week, representing a 13.9 per cent increase over the previous week. Countries recorded 4,158 deaths. While all sub-regions saw increases in infections, only the Caribbean (13.3 per cent) and South America (32.8 per cent) recorded a rise in deaths over the previous week. Weekly cases in the Caribbean plateaued for two consecutive weeks, but the sub-region noted a 3.2 per cent increase in the last week.
PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne said Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) target of vaccinating 70 per cent of their population, while El Salvador approaches the goal.
However, there are still 11 countries in the region which have not reached the first target of 40 per cent. Etienne said these countries must pick up the pace to shield their populations from the worst consequences. She said they should not lower their guards, as the pandemic has surprised the world several times.
Etienne said many COVID-19 patients, whether they experience a mild, severe or critical illness, continue to experience COVID-19-like symptoms for three months or more after their initial infection. She said some studies estimated that 10-20 per cent of people who recovered from COVID-19 might develop a post-COVID-19 condition (Long COVID).
Considering the millions of confirmed cases worldwide, she said hundreds of thousands of people might be affected.
“This is a particularly important problem for the Americas, where we have reported over 161 million COVID-19 cases over the past two years. It is difficult to be precise about how many people are affected since cases of post-COVID conditions are not always officially reported,” Etienne said.
People with underlying health conditions like asthma, the unvaccinated and those who smoke or vape are particularly at risk for these conditions. People who recovered from COVID-19 can still develop Long COVID if infected again. Etienne said Long COVID could be extremely debilitating, with severe and persistent fatigue the most common symptom. Others include shortness of breath and loss of taste, smell and other respiratory, cognitive and sensory functions.
