BRASILIA (Reuters)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths have decreased 17 per cent in the Americas over the past week, but the most populous countries like the United States, Brazil and Colombia are seeing a levelling of new infections after weeks of declining trends, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday (November 17).

Mexico is reporting an increasing trend in new deaths and, in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago has had a sharp rise in deaths as ICU beds fill with COVID-19 patients, PAHO said.

Countries across Central and South America are seeing a decline in new infections, except for Bolivia, the health agency said.

Last Thursday, the regional health agency said COVID-19 deaths and infections have declined across the Americas for the eighth consecutive week but warned that a very high percentage of hospitalised cases currently being managed are unvaccinated people.

In North America, all three countries reported drops in weekly cases and deaths, and there has been a notable decline in hospitalisations in the United States and Canada, PAHO said, with similar declines in South and Central America.

The regional health branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) said 46 per cent of the Latin American and Caribbean population have been fully vaccinated, and a majority of countries have already reached the WHO’s 40 per cent vaccination coverage target set for the end of the year.

“Vaccine inequity remains the biggest barrier to reaching our coverage targets,” PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said in a briefing.

Given the limited supply of vaccines, he urged authorities to prioritise the elderly, frontline workers, and people with pre-existing conditions, to protect them and also to prevent health systems from becoming overburdened with severe cases.

PAHO recommends providing booster doses to people who are immunocompromised, including cancer patients, HIV positive individuals, patients on corticoids and transplant recipients.