Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update (15-21 February 2021), as of 22 February 2021
KEY FIGURES
575.3K NEW COVID-19 CASES IN LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN FROM 15-21 FEBRUARY 2021
25K PEOPLE A DAY TARGETED FOR VACCINATION BY EL SALVADOR
222%+ INCREASE IN ACTIVE CASES IN JAMAICA SINCE THE START OF 2021
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador received their first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines on 17 February, a batch of 20,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The Government indicates that a second batch of 90,000 doses is on the way from India, with an additional batch of 400,000 due the third week of March. With the Government targeting 4 million people for vaccination, El Salvador will also receive 51,480 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and another 324,000 doses of the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX mechanism.
The Ministry of Health indicated on 19 February that more than 2,000 doses have already been administered as part of the Ministry’s goal of applying 2,000 daily doses to frontline healthcare personnel and, eventually, 25,000 people a day.
BOLIVIA
Official data indicates that the rate of COVID-19 infections in at least five of Bolivia’s nine departments have reached a plateau following a second wave that gripped the country in recent weeks. This trend is also reflected in the decreasing number of municipalities under the Government’s high-risk designation, down to 79 from the preceding week’s 89.
Bolivia began their vaccination rollout in late January with 20,000 initial vaccines administered through various levels of government. Bolivia is expecting shipments of nearly 1 million doses through the COVAX mechanism and 500,000 Sinopharm doses in February, in addition to March shipments of 5 million Sputnik V and 5 million Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines purchased by the Government.
JAMAICA
On 16 February, Jamaica again broke its single-day COVID-case record, registering 468 new cases compared to the previous high of 403. The 16 February case count is the fourth time Jamaica has broken its single-day case record in less than two weeks, as the recent outbreak has pushed active cases over 6,700, an increase of more than 222 per cent since the start of 2021.
This growth has placed even more pressure on Jamaica’s already-strained public health system, with hospitals across the most affected parishes reporting isolation wards at or close to capacity and health officials activating a surge plan to relocate patients and boost frontline staff capacity.