A new wave of epidemics is attacking South America, pushing many countries to the brink of collapse of the health care system.
When the P1 strain, which originated in Brazil, swept through the Peruvian capital Lima last month, Rommel Herida had to send three family members, father, mother and brother, to hospital. They both got Covid-19, according to it Guardian.
“I promise to take them home,” said Rommel, the man’s voice distorted behind the two masks he wore on his face. Mr. Rommel finally broke his promise. Just three days later, Rommel’s brother Juan Carlos, 52 years old, died waiting for his turn to be used in the active treatment room at Rebagliati hospital in the capital Lima. The very next day, Rommel’s 80-year-old mother died of encephalitis, a symptom the doctor said was Covid-19. Four days after the mother’s death, Rommel’s father also passed away. “The pain is really so great, I cannot face this truth,” Mr. Rommel could not hide his agony. Massacre in South America On April 18, Peru experienced the deadliest day since the pandemic broke out with 433 patients dying of Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 57,000. New strains, the most serious of which are strain P1, are pushing Peru into the next wave of epidemics, the country’s authorities warned. And Peru is no exception in South America. Latin American countries are in despair when the P1 strain spreads faster than ever, making the epidemic situation worse and worse. New cases and deaths rose again in Argentina, Boliva, Peru, Venezueala and Uruguay, with the P1 strain being thought to be the cause behind the new epidemic wave. 
Hospitals in many South American cities are overcrowded due to too many patients with Covid-19. Photo: AP. “The Brazilian sea of strains has infiltrated nearly every corner of the region,” warned Peruvian Health Minister Osscar Ugarte. Peru, one of the most serious outbreaks in the world, is now entering the deadliest phase of the pandemic. Ester Sabino, a Brazilian scientist tracking the spread of the P1 strain, said genetic analysis confirmed the P1 strain appeared from the city of Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazon in the second half of November 2020. In just a few weeks, Manaus gained worldwide fame after city hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge in patients. The P1 strain knocked out the medical system at the places it passed, depleting the oxygen stores, causing many patients to die from not receiving timely treatment. “What we are witnessing is a massacre,” said a health worker at Manaus. Sabino initially hoped the Brazilian epidemic, along with the spread of the P1 strain, could be under control by 2021 when the vaccine begins to be widely distributed. But the Brazilian authorities failed. The spread of the P1 strain is now completely out of control. In Araraquara, a city south of Sao Paulo, a blockade was issued after the outbreak of P1 positive cases. Across Brazil, hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, many of them in their youths, in contrast to what happened in the early onset of the epidemic. The number of deaths in Brazil doubled in just three months, from 195,000 in early January to more than 384,000 as of April 23. “This strain not only spread much more strongly, it also significantly reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine, increasing the rate of re-infection,” said Antonio Quispe, a Peruvian epidemiologist. Quispe described the P1 strain spreading “quickly and brutally”, bringing a bad nightmare to South America. Incubator of dangerous strains Fearing new strains with vaccine resistance, governments of some countries have tightened traffic control and closed borders with South America. Recently, France has banned all flights from Brazil, French Prime Minister Jean Castex explained that Brazil is experiencing a “terrible” epidemic. “Europe has the right to fear what is happening in Brazil. The more the virus spreads, the more new strains appear. The situation is now extremely, extremely serious,” said Marcos Boulos, infectious disease expert. from the University of Sao Paulo, said. South American countries, where the epidemic is spreading out of control, provide ideal environments for the incubation of new virus strains, Boulos warned. Mr. Boulos’s judgment was correct in India. Variant B.1.617 – Indian variant – is the product of the superinfection in the South Asian country. Last week, India has twice set a world record for corona virus cases on April 22-23. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened the health crisis to a “hurricane” that swept across the country. Scientist Miguel Nicolelis criticizes President Jair Bolsonaro’s erroneous strategy that has turned Brazil, South America’s most populous nation, into a global corona virus threat. 
The coffin carrying the body of the deceased Covid-19 patient is taken to a cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. Photo: AFP. “Brazil is now like an incubator, creating all kinds of strains of the virus,” said Nicolelis. While some mutations can weaken the virus, others have the potential to make the virus spread more aggressively, or increase their virulence, the scientist warns. Scientists also rang alarm bells about the epidemic situation in India’s 1.3 billion population. “Change can happen even faster there. India is paving the way for the advent of countless mutations. It’s a terrifying prospect,” warned Nicoleles. “Countries like Brazil and India cannot be spurned or abandoned. They need help, because disease is not a problem for any country, it is a worldwide problem,” said Nicolelis. . In Lima, Mr. Rommel still does not know what type of virus has killed three of his relatives. Even so, the man understands the scale of the disaster engulfing the country, where more than 57,000 people have died from Covid-19. “There are 30 patients waiting in line for each intensive care bed, and they prioritize young patients,” which was what the doctor told Rommel when he took his brother Joan Carlos to the hospital at the end of the month. 3. After being admitted to the hospital, Rommel’s brother never got a chance to leave the emergency room. He died only 3 days after pneumonia and pneumothorax. “The plague here is like a war where people are dying because they can’t find a hospital bed,” Rommel said sourly. India ‘broke the game’ in the second wave of Covid-19 India is being devastated by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In just 24 hours, the number of deaths due to the country’s pandemic reached 2,000 people and more than 300,000 new cases.
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