US virus toll crosses 100,000 as pandemic rages in Latin America

Global cases have surged to nearly 5.7 million, with more than 354,000 deaths, and the worrying acceleration of the disease in South America has marked the continent as the new hotspot.

A medical worker prepares to take swab samples from a journalist to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Beijing . AFP/NICOLAS ASFOURI

Deaths in Brazil topped 25,000 on Wednesday, and its caseload is second only to the United States, where authorities have moved to ease lockdowns and help the battered economy, despite experts recommending they remain on guard for a resurgence of the disease.

“Don’t start leapfrogging over the recommendations of some of the guidelines because that’s really tempting fate and asking for trouble,” Anthony Fauci, one of the top US health advisers, told CNN.

Nearly 1.7 million Americans are known to have been infected with the disease, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

A government medical worker, in a joint operation with military police, prepares to check passengers on boats in the Melgaco bay, Brazil. AFP/TARSO SARRAF

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president and a Trump ally, has slammed stay-at-home orders and played down the threat of the virus, saying the economic fallout of lockdowns causes more damage than the disease itself.

A protester sets up bags representing dead bodies during a funeral procession demonstration against the reopening of Florida, in Miami. AFP/CHANDAN KHANNA

Peru logged a record 6,154 new cases in a 24-hour period, with its virus response coordinator Pilar Mazzetti warning that “difficult days, difficult weeks are coming.”

Worried relatives outside the Sabogal Hospital in the capital Lima were unable to enter to see loved ones suffering from COVID-19, with some begging the guards for information.

A medical worker packages a sample from a taxi driver while testing for COVID-19 in Morocco’s capital Rabat. AFP/FADEL SENNA

“They don’t say anything, they don’t call, they don’t explain anything… What is he suffering from?”

– France bans controversial drug –

While scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine, parallel trials are under way to test treatments for COVID-19 symptoms.

France said Wednesday it was banning the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment after the World Health Organization suspended its testing over fears of dangerous side effects.

Ballet dancers wearing face masks take part in a rehearsal of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus in Minsk. AFP/Sergei GAPON

Health authorities in Brazil and Senegal, and India’s top biomedical research body have said they will continue to use it for COVID-19 patients, but the US Food and Drug Administration has warned of serious side effects and poisoning.

Residents get free face masks from a vending machine by scanning their identification card, set up by the government as part of the effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19 in Singapore. AFP/ROSLAN RAHMAN

Didier Roualt, a French infectious disease specialist, insists he has successfully treated dozens of patients with hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin.

He has rejected a comprehensive study in The Lancet medical journal published last week which found that hydroxychloroquine actually increased the risk of death.

– Fans at the French Open? –

As South America and parts of Africa and Asia scramble to deal with their worsening outbreaks, Europe has taken tentative steps to reopen economies and ease lockdowns as new infections slow.

Doctors protest demanding protection equipment and a wage increase during the lockdown in Buenos Aires. AFP/JUAN MABROMATA

It follows other emergency measures introduced around the world to rescue economies shattered by the virus, which has also shredded the global sports calendar and left fans wondering what events will look like.

A child stands next to bottles and cans as her mother collects water from a tanker in New Delhi as the Indian government eases a nationwide lockdown . AFP/SAJJAD HUSSAIN

There was a reminder, however, of the threat still posed by the coronavirus in England, where the globally popular Premier League announced that four more people at its football clubs had tested positive.

– ‘We are starving’ –

Far from the mega-rich sports leagues of the world, millions are simply trying to survive, having lost their livelihoods during the lockdowns.

A woman mourns the death of her husband from COVID-19, outside the emergency area at Alberto Sabogal Hospital in Lima. AFP/ERNESTO BENAVIDES

Now many migrants workers are left with few options, as the government called for locals to be favored for jobs as the economy emerges from the crisis.

“As foreign nationals, we are contributing so much to the South African economy, it’s totally unfair from the South African government not to help people living on its own soil,” said Collin Makumbirofa, a 41-year-old Zimbabwean who has been living in Johannesburg for more than a decade.

“It’s very tough, we are starving. Life has become unbearable here.”