COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean: Two years of the pandemic

Abstract

Worldwide, nations have struggled during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, Latin America and the Caribbean faced an unmatched catastrophic toll. As of March 2022, the region has reported approximately 15% of cases and 28% of deaths worldwide. Considering the relatively late arrival of SARS-CoV-2, several factors in the region were determinants of the humanitarian crisis that ensued. Pandemic unpreparedness, fragile healthcare systems, forthright inequalities, and poor governmental support facilitated the spread of the virus throughout the region. Moreover, reliance on repurposed and ineffective drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin-to treat or prevent COVID-19-was publicised through misinformation and created a false sense of security and poor adherence to social distancing measures. While there were hopes that herd immunity could be achieved after the region's disastrous first peak, the emergence of the Gamma, Lambda, and Mu variants made this unattainable. This review explores how Latin America and the Caribbean fared during the first 2 years of the pandemic, and how, despite all the challenges, the region became a global leader in COVID-19 vaccination, with 63% of its population fully vaccinated.

Keywords: COVID-19; Latin America; SARS-CoV-2; global health; vaccination.

Fig. 1

New cases, deaths, and proportion of population fully vaccinated in Latin America and the Caribbean. Source: ourworldindata.org/coronavirus.

Fig. 2

Interconnected determinants for the overwhelming death toll and crippling socioeconomic impact in Latin America and the Caribbean during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Fig. 3

COVID‐19 mortality rates per 100,000 inhabitants in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean [Updated: 24 January 2022]. Source: worldometers.info/coronavirus/.