Dr. Mike Ryan, World Health Organization executive director of the health emergencies program, said Wednesday that the Americas have not reached their coronavirus peak.
Particularly across Central and South America, Ryan said, “We've seen a steady and worrying continuation of trend — with many countries experiencing between 25% and 50% rise in cases over the last week.”
Ryan added many countries are still “suffering sustained community transmission.”
“Unfortunately, the pandemic for many countries in the Americas has not peaked. They are not reaching a low level of transmission within which we can achieve a sustainable exit from public health and social measures,” Ryan said at Wednesday's briefing.
Across the region, we will likely see a “sustained number of cases and continued deaths in the coming weeks,” he said.
Though Ryan said there is no way to predict the numbers, at this point the epidemic is “still intense” across a range of countries.
“I don't think anybody wants to go back to population-wide, society-wide lockdowns. But the only way, in some circumstances, to avoid that now is a very, very, very aggressive investment in our capacity to detect cases, confirm cases, quarantine contacts, and keep our communities onboard and willing — able without coercion — to support clear messaging and clear instructions and requests from government in a trusting environment,” Ryan said.