The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will begin to send from this week support missions made up of experts, primarily in countries of the region with more vulnerable health systems, facing the epidemic of Covid-19, among others Guyana, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay and Haiti "[...] certain countries carry a greater risk […] Increased risks not only for imports cases, but also for the ability to provide good surveillance and to detect cases early and more importantly, for the ability to manage vital cases and ensure that the infection is under control," said on 6 March PAHO Director Carissa Etienne at a press conference at PAHO headquarters in Washington.

"We will be on the ground to assess them and help them respond to some of the problems that may be important [...] These countries need to be ready to respond," said Etienne. Field teams will review national plans to deal with the new virus, the surveillance system to detect new cases and the preparation to deal with them, including quarantine sites for those infected.

Étienne stressed that although the Caribbean and Latin America region is better prepared than 10 years ago after the lessons learned from the H1N1 pandemic and Zika "countries must now be ready, to react today and ready to react with the tools they already have [...] We must be on alert,é reiterating the warnings of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The list also includes: Suriname, Guyana, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia and Paraguay, as well as the eastern Caribbean islands (12 members : Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat , Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as well as the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe) which will be visited later.

This Monday March 9th there were 134 confirmed cases in 14 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America region (0.5% of all cases outside of China) : Brazil (25), Mexico (7), Ecuador (15), Saint-Martin (36), Dominican Republic (5), Saint Barthelemy (1), Argentina (12), Chile (8), French Guiana (5), Colombia (1), Peru (7), Martinique (2), Costa Rica (9), Paraguay (1).

Note that the interactions of these countries with the United States (564 confirmed cases) and Canada (132 cases), increases the risk of contagion...

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30191-haiti-health-religious-rally-and-preventive-measures-against-covid-19.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30170-haiti-coronavirus-important-meeting-at-the-national-palace.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30165-haiti-flash-first-case-of-covid-19-in-the-dominican-republic.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30158-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30143-haiti-flash-health-alert-of-the-ministry-of-health-on-the-coronavirus.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30142-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30056-haiti-covid-19-training-of-agents-of-the-national-ambulance-center-at-the-international-airport.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30039-haiti-health-the-caribbean-and-latin-america-trained-in-the-detection-of-covid-19.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-30015-icihaiti-health-haiti-now-has-the-means-to-detect-the-new-coronavirus-covid-19.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30010-haiti-flash-coronavirus-the-number-of-infected-and-deaths-explodes-in-24-hours.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29955-haiti-health-surveillance-measures-are-deployed-in-the-country-s-ports-and-airports.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29950-haiti-flash-the-ministry-asks-the-hospitals-of-the-country-to-prepare-for-the-coronavirus.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-29947-icihaiti-dr-towards-the-establishment-of-a-sanitary-cordon-at-the-border.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29926-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29923-haiti-coronavirus-emergency-meeting-of-caribbean-health-ministers.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29919-haiti-flash-chinese-banned-to-go-out-of-a-plane-to-port-au-prince.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29879-haiti-health-chinese-coronavirus-the-ministry-of-health-is-reassuring.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29858-haiti-flash-chinese-coronavirus-haiti-is-preparing-and-activating-its-alert-system.html

SL/ HaitiLibre