The region is one of the two areas where there have been no cases of covid-19 that has already left more than 1,100 people dead and 60,000 infections
Coronavirus covid-19 passed in a few weeks from a local emergency in China to an epidemic that threatens the planet.
In its rapid spread throughout the world, the virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan – quarantined – on Friday had already reached 24 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And since the first cases were known, in December 2019, the death balance this February 14 was of one.368 deaths and more than 60,000 infected.
However, in the countries that make up the Latin American region, no positive case of coronavirus had been reported until Friday (although there were cases under investigation).
In Mexico, 11 potential infections were evaluated and discarded; in Colombia there was a case under analysis and Brazil has put under investigation 46 cases of which it has already ruled out 40.
SOnly an Argentine citizen has been confirmed as positive by coronavirus, but the patient was in China where he was treated.
Why have we not detected cases in Latin America?
1. Why has the virus not yet reached Latin America?
“In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the main reasons is that there are fewer travelers and direct flights from China compared to other countries in Asia, Europe and North America,” the doctor told BBC Mundo Sylvain Aldighieri, Coronavirus case coordinator of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
In fact, it was only in February 2018 that the first route between Beijing and Latin America was inaugurated, when the airline Hainan Airlines He presented the flight between the Chinese capital and Mexico City.
However, that is not the only reason why the coronavirus is not yet registered in the area.
“The countries of the region have also implemented early detection and isolation measures, in addition to the strengthening of surveillance,” said Aldighieri.
That is evident in certain points of the continent.
For example, according to the Ministry of Health, Mexico was the first country that, due to its direct connection with China, established a confirmatory diagnostic protocol in the 32 centers that make up the public network of national laboratories.
Another country that took the lead was Chile. Through the country’s Health Minister, Jaime Mañalich, it was reported last January that a strengthening of the Epidemiological Surveillance Network would be made, to urgently detect any condition or respiratory illness in hospitals.
On February 4, Colombia became the first country in the region to implement a test to diagnose the coronavirus to people entering the country.
Other countries have also arranged, according to PAHO, extraordinary resources to prevent the disease from reaching its territory.
2. Is it possible that there are positive cases that have not yet been detected in Latin America?
In Latin America, that possibility cannot be ruled out.
As in Africa, another region that does not have confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, it is possible that there are infected patients that have not been detected by the authorities, according to WHO members themselves.
“As covid-19 has not yet been characterized, there is no 100% certainty that the coronavirus is no longer circulating in Latin America,” said the expert.
However, Aldighieri highlighted the work that is being done at the regional level not only in the detection of the virus in the ports of entry of the countries but also inland borders.
“Since last week, PAHO virology experts have been training and equipping laboratories to respond to possible imported cases. Thanks to this initiative, before February 21, 29 laboratories in Latin America will be ready to detect the covid-19“, he pointed.
But, thanks to other pandemics that did affect the continent in the past, the region was left with a structure capable of fighting the virus.
“All countries in the world are at risk of importing covid-19, including the possibility that the spread within the country will occur after importation,” said the PAHO spokeswoman.
He added: “However, in Latin America, the structure to prevent the spread of a virus was strengthened after the H1N1 pandemic that occurred in 2009“.
3. What measures they can avoid an epidemic of coronavirus en Latin America?
The coronavirus is a large family of viruses of which only six were known (the new one, covid-19, would be the seventh) capable of infecting humans.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by a coronavirus, killed 774 of the 8,098 people who contracted it in an outbreak that also started in China, but in 2002.
And this new outbreak already records more than 1,300 fatalities and 60,000 infected.
Despite the efforts of the countries of the region in the face of the outbreak, PAHO indicated that several measures must be taken to prevent its spread.
“The main recommendations for the inhabitants to protect themselves and others from getting sick are at least three,” said the expert.
- Travelers with fever or cough should avoid traveling by any means (air, boat, train), avoid close contact with others and seek medical attention.
- If you get sick while traveling, inform the crew and seek medical attention.
- If you get sick after traveling (within 14 days, the estimated incubation time), avoid close contact with people, seek medical attention and share your travel history with your health care provider
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