More than one million dead in Latin America as variants spread | COVID-19 Special

 

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Experts say Latin America is fast becoming the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one million people there have died.

The only exception is Chile, where 80 percent of the population are fully vaccinated. Otherwise, health systems are struggling to cope. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of nearly 200,000 people in Peru, where the vaccination campaign is only slowly getting underway. Just 16 percent of the population are completely inoculated. The country is battling several coronavirus variants.

Colombia is experiencing one of the longest peaks of infection since the coronavirus arrived in the country. This third spike has put the national medical system to the test. Quarantine measures have been struggling to strengthen an already strained system. ICUs in the country's second largest city Medellín are over 95 percent occupied. Doctors insist the national model of pandemic care has failed.