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Recently, the situation of overseas epidemics has become increasingly severe. The epidemic situation in Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea is particularly serious, and domestic attention has also focused on these countries. In contrast, South America seemed slightly calmer during the epidemic, and some even thought that the virus was restricted in the southern hemisphere and that South American countries were safer.

But in fact, on February 26, the number of new cases reported abroad exceeded the domestic level for the first time the next day, and South America also lost ground: Brazil confirmed the first patient with new coronary pneumonia, and this patient also became a patient in South America. The first case; less than 20 days after the fall of the whole continent, Suriname and Bolivia became the last two countries in South America to have confirmed patients on March 13.

This is the case

At the end of January 2020, the spread of the epidemic overseas has accelerated. At this time, Brazil felt the “imminent danger” and raised the emergency alert to level 2 on January 28. (total level 3) .

The alarm sounded for eight days, and it was time to come. On February 25, the first patient in Brazil was confirmed as a 61-year-old man who had just returned from a trip to Italy. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has gradually increased, and community-transmitted cases also appeared on the 13th. As of March 14, Brazil has reported 173 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia. Such a high number makes Brazil the country with the largest number of confirmed cases in South America.

Brazil is the worst epidemic in South America (French Guyana is dark red because of France ..)

In addition to ordinary people, Brazil also has infected government officials. Brazilian Ambassador to the United States Foster met with Brazilian President Bossonaro last week and had dinner with Trump. The official was later proved to be the fourth diagnosed among his colleagues, and Trump, who was at the dinner table, was convinced that he would not be infected by the virus.

Because the epidemic in Brazil is likely to continue to worsen, the World Economic Forum originally scheduled to be held in Brazil at the end of April (WEF) also decided to postpone it. .

It makes people all over the world feel nervous (picture from Axios / twitter)

Apart from Brazil, Argentina and Chile are also countries with severe outbreaks.

On March 3, the first case of new crown pneumonia occurred in Argentina. The patient was a man returning from Italy. On the same day, Chile announced the first case of new crown pneumonia in the country. The patient traveled to Singapore.

The fastest way to quickly spread the world’s countries is by airplane, so we can see how important “airborne skills” are to viruses

As of 16:00 on the 14th, there have been 34 infections in Argentina and 2 deaths, both of which are men over 60 years old. At the same time, there are 189 suspected cases awaiting confirmation of the results from the Marblen Institute in the Argentine capital, and 229 people have contacted the confirmed patients and are waiting in line for results. In Chile, 43 patients were confirmed by the 14th. Most of the cases originated in Southeast Asia and Europe. No deaths have been reported.

As the World Health Organization’s only accredited laboratory in Argentina, it has received a large number of virus samples for testing and analysis (picture from: Ministry of Health of Argentina)

The rest of the South American countries are relatively better in terms of the current diagnosis, with no more than 30 cases.

Peru announced the first confirmed case on March 6. Most of the 11 cases confirmed by the 10th were related to the first patient. As of the 14th, there were 28 confirmed patients.

Similar to Peru are neighboring countries Ecuador and Colombia. Ecuador confirmed 23 cases, and by the 13th, the country had its first death. In comparison, Colombia is slightly better, with 16 cases confirmed by 14 days and no deaths.

Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador have a more detailed distribution of cases. South American countries do not have dense populations and towns like East and West European countries, and control external access. And big cities can better prevent epidemic input

Except for the above countries, the confirmed diagnosis of all other South American countries is within 10 people, including Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Suriname, and Bolivia. The only case in Guyana—a 52-year-old woman who had travelled to the United States—was dead, setting the world’s highest 100% mortality rate.

Work hard to prevent and control

In Brazil, where the epidemic is most severe, President Bosonaro said in a televised speech on the 13th that although the national health system has limited resources, it is ready to deal with the threat.

At present, Brazil has strengthened the monitoring of ports and airports and released daily statistical information. The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro has also set up an interdisciplinary working group to focus on how to use artificial intelligence and big data to track international arrivals from infected areas to Brazil. Passengers and suspected cases.

Confirmed cases in Brazil are currently concentrated in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

In terms of medical supplies, the Osvaldo Cruz Foundation, affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Health, started to produce virus detection tools a week ago. It is expected that the output will reach 25,000 to 30,000 sets per week in the future. They are distributed to public health laboratories everywhere. Brazil is also seeking anti-epidemic materials internationally, such as wanting to purchase face recognition and infrared temperature measurement systems from China.

In Argentina next door, starting on the 3rdPrevention and control measures have been gradually strengthened since the case of a new crown, such as temperature measurement registration at a transportation hub, and review of passengers from affected areas.

On March 13, Argentine President Fernandez signed the National Emergency Prevention Act, which stipulates that Argentina enters a one-year health emergency. At the same time, it will suspend reception from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, the United States, and Europe International flights. In China, all places where crowds may gather and activities will also be cancelled.

(picture from https://www.argentina.gob.ar/salud/coronavirus-COVID-19)

Chile, which has a similar situation, has also adopted similar measures. It also stated that it will send an expert group to China as soon as possible to learn the Chinese government’s experience and measures to fight the epidemic.

Peru and Colombia are not the most critical, but they are doing a good job of preventing and controlling.

The spread of the epidemic is the current insurance policy. The Peruvian government has decided to suspend public and private schools nationwide until March 30. In addition, Peru also announced that it will suspend flights from Europe and Asia, with effect from March 16.

Start to control immigration personnel at the airport (picture from Ministerio de Salud / twitter)

People all over the world have the same panic response, except that the categories are different (picture from Ministerio de Salud / twitter)

Colombia has adopted stricter measures. It first required personnel from France, Spain, Italy and China to conduct self-segregation for two weeks after entering Colombia, announced a health emergency on March 12, and ordered the suspension of public gatherings for more than 500 people, including football matches And banned cruise ships from docking in the country’s ports; on March 13, President Ivan Duke announced that it would close its border with neighboring Venezuela.

Current situation in Venezuela, it is difficult for people to buy medicines or even food. It is common to buy goods across the border to Colombia (picture from Presidencia Colombia / twitter) / p>

Besides, President Duke also announced that he will “close the country” from Monday. Non-nationals who have visited Europe and Asia in the past two weeks will not be allowed to enter the country, and their citizens must self-isolate for two weeks after entering.

For the remaining South American countries where the epidemic is milder, common measures are also to strengthen immigration inspections, ground flights, suspension of classes nationwide, and temporary suspension of large-scale public activities. Although the measures are simple and crude, they have proven to be a good measure.

Double Critical Strike

In countries in South America, combating new crown pneumonia is not the only public health dilemma—an old South American friend, “dengue fever”, is once again menacing, which is another major reason why many countries have declared emergency health status.

It is the season for Aedes mosquito breeding (picture from wmpglobal / instagram)

South America, which is at the mosquito breeding season, is experiencing the worst dengue outbreak in decades. For humans, although dengue fever is no longer unfamiliar, it should not be taken lightly. If it is not treated, the infection mortality rate can even reach 20%.

In Brazil, 94,000 new cases of dengue fever have occurred in the five weeks after the start of the year 2020, far exceeding the number of cases of new coronary pneumonia. The scope of dengue infection is mainly concentrated in the central and western regions of the country. Ten people died as a result.

As a high-density area, South American countries carry out mosquito killing activities many times a year, and not only prevent dengue, but also Zika and yellow fever Et al. (2016, Rio de Janeiro, picture from LuizSouza / shutterstock.com)

Argentina also suffered its worst dengue fever in four years. MarchIn the first week of this year, the country’s case of dengue fever increased by 66%, half of which were in the capital, and most of them were in the capital’s poorest areas. To date, dengue cases have been reported in 15 provinces in 24 administrative units in Argentina, with nearly 800 confirmed cases and more than 40,000 suspected cases to be tested.

There are a large number of “Villas of Misery” in Argentina. Without a sanitation system, hydropower is in an unordered state, and it is the preferred breeding and spreading area for mosquitoes (picture from Patricio_Murphy / Shutterstock.com)

Perhaps because of the catalytic effect of this dengue fever, a dengue detection kit developed by a research team from University of San Martin in Argentina four years ago was finally successfully developed in March this year. The kit needle only takes ten minutes. The test can be completed, and the accuracy of the result is between 80% -90%.

It is similar to pregnancy test, it can give quick results, and it is very helpful for early treatment and control in areas with high dengue fever. >

In Peru, 8221 cases of dengue fever have been reported by the end of February, with more than 10 deaths. On February 7, taking into account the high-speed contagion of dengue fever, the Peruvian government announced on February 7, 2020 that the country ’s most severely affected area was (Eastern jungle area bordering Bolivia and Brazil) A 90-day sanitary emergency was initiated and measures were taken to kill mosquitoes, including drug fumigation of 40,000 houses in the San Martin area, In order to eliminate Aedes aegypti, which spreads dengue vectors.

These South American countries have known Dengue for many years, and the anti-virus army is waiting every year (Argentina’s drug fumigation in public places in 16 years) (picture from: SC Image / Shutterstock.com)

The impact of dengue fever is equally alarming in countries where the new crown is relatively mild. For example, in Paraguay, where only six cases have been diagnosed, since the beginning of 2020, it has encountered the largest number of dengue infections in a decade. According to data from Paraguay’s Ministry of Health, the country currently has a total of 4,255 confirmed cases of dengue and 85,290 suspected cases, and even President Benitez is unfortunately recruited. Fortunately, he has recovered and returned to work after two days.

“Even me” (President of Paraguay Picture from Cesar Itiberê / PR / Wikipedia)

Dengue fever visits South America every year with varying degrees of severity, the main reasons being global warming, the outbreak week of the disease itselfAnd the inadequate ability to prevent and respond to diseases in South America, and the inadequate ability to respond seems to be reflected in this new crown epidemic: all South American countries combined, and only 1 case was cured by March 14, from Argentina.

On March 13th, the South American Football Association officially announced that due to the impact of the epidemic, the South American Liberator Cup will be suspended for the next week, and subsequent matches will be adjusted according to the epidemic situation.

It is conceivable that for South America, where the epidemic seems to have just begun, large-scale public events such as those delayed or suspended due to the impact of the disease will only increase. However, if all South American countries can take the seriousness they deserve, they can minimize their impact.

Reference:

https://pe.usembassy.gov/health-alert-dengue-fever-peru-february-2020/

https://interestingengineering.com/argentinian-scientists-develop-kit-that-diagnoses-dengue-in-just-10-minutes

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/aumentan-casos-dengue-argentina-20200312-0009.html

https://www.losandes.com.ar/article/view?slug=nuevo-brote-de-dengue-en-argentina-que-es-como-prevenirlo -y-cual-es-la-situacion-actual

http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0309/c1002-31623875.html