World passes five million coronavirus cases with Latin America now seeing most infections

The coronavirus has infected more than five million people around the world, with Latin America now seeing the fastest growth in new cases. 

A surge in cases in Brazil, a large outbreak in Peru and a growing crisis in Argentina have propelled South America ahead of North America as the continent with the most new infections. 

Yesterday, South America recorded 27,517 new cases, ahead of North America with 24,935, Asia with 21,542 and Europe with 17,275. Africa and Oceania have seen far fewer cases so far. 

With official figures already painting a bleak picture, there are fears that the true scale of the crisis in Latin America is even more horrific because of under-reporting and insufficient testing. 

Brazil has processed only 338,000 tests for its 210million population, lagging far behind European countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain, and president Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the scale of the crisis. 

Mexico – a part of Latin America although not South America – has a lower rate of testing for the virus than any of the world’s largest economies, suggesting its official tally of 56,594 cases may be far too low. 

An anti-corruption group has claimed that the true death toll in Mexico City could be three times higher than the official figure, at 4,577 instead of 1,332. 

Meanwhile in Venezuela, a group of scientists who questioned official figures and warned of a looming surge in cases were publicly rebuked by a government minister who demanded an investigation.  

After the virus first emerged in late 2019, the world reached one million cases in early April. Since then, each additional million has taken around two weeks.   

Asia initially had the most cases because the virus was concentrated in China, which still had around 99 per cent of infections as late as mid-February. 

Europe then became the focal point in mid-March, initially centred on Italy, before the huge outbreak in the United States put North America into an unwanted lead. 

While the outbreaks in Europe and the US have gradually been in retreat after weeks of lockdown, South America has yet to reach its peak.  

According to figures from Our World In Data, daily cases in South America surpassed those in Europe on May 15 before overtaking North America yesterday. 

The 27,517 new infections in South America on Wednesday made up more than a quarter of the world’s 94,557 additional cases. 

Europe still accounts for around half the world’s deaths, with more than 169,000 fatalities recorded there. However, Brazil now has the third-largest outbreak in the world, behind only the United States and Russia.  

As of Thursday afternoon in Europe, the global tally of cases was 5,027,732 while a total of 328,730 people have died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.  

Brazil’s health ministry has recorded 291,579 cases and 18,859 deaths so far, with no signs that the outbreak is slowing. Yesterday’s figure of new infections was a record 19,951, while Tuesday saw a new high of 1,179 daily deaths. 

Public health experts say the peak is not expected until June and fear that the true scale of the crisis is far greater because of insufficient testing. 

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to the lockdowns which most states have imposed, raging at the economic damage over what he calls a ‘little flu’. 

Hospitals are already close to the breaking point in some areas, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the northwestern state of Amazonas.

About 13million Brazilians live in shanty town ‘favelas,’ where hygiene recommendations and physical distancing are almost impossible to follow. 

Argentina is also recording hundreds of new cases a day in its worst spate of infections so far. The Argentine health ministry said last night that total cases had risen to 9,283, while 403 people have died.  

Much of Argentina has been in lockdown since March 20, and scientists are working to develop rapid testing kits. 

Meanwhile, Peru has recorded more than 100,000 cases – the second-highest tally on the continent after Brazil – and is suffering from medical shortages and soaring drug prices. 

Peru recorded its first confirmed coronavirus case on March 6 and reached 1,000 infections just 25 days later. It surpassed 10,000 cases another 14 days later on April 14.  

Police have been touring pharmacies after claims that they were hoarding drugs and reports that basic medicine prices have surged by as much as 900 per cent.  

In Venezuela, authorities have linked some cases to migrants who fled the country’s economic crisis but have now returned during the pandemic. 

A government minister said on Tuesday that Venezuela had seen a record 131 new cases in the previous 24 hours, of which 110 were linked to arrivals from abroad. 

Migrants returning to Venezuela are required to spend a 14-day quarantine period at shelters at the border, rather than in their home states.

Venezuela has since imposed new curfews in a handful of towns along its borders with Colombia and Brazil in response to a jump in coronavirus cases.  

Around the world, virologists are racing to develop a vaccine which would turn the tide against the virus, but it is likely to be many months away at least. 

Scientists are also trying to develop drugs to treat the virus more effectively, meaning that countries would have less to fear from an outbreak.  

Some vaccine projects have already begun testing humans, including at Oxford University. 

Up to 1,102 participants have been recruited across multiple study sites in Oxford, Southampton, London and Bristol, although results are not expected for weeks. 

Imperial College London is also progressing with its vaccine candidate and will look to move into clinical trials by mid-June, with larger scale trials in October.

However, experts and politicians warn there is no guarantee that an effective vaccine will ever be developed.  

Even if it is, there are concerns about how it will be distributed in large enough quantities to bring the pandemic to a standstill.