South America New Epicenter of COVID-19, Brazil Most Affected - WHO

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) South America has become a new epicenter for the coronavirus, with Brazil impacted heavily, Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme Michael J. Ryan said Friday.

"In a sense, South America has become a new epicenter for the diseases. We've seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases, and clearly there's a concern across many of those countries, but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point," Ryan told a briefing.

The WHO official also commented on the Brazilian government's decision to approve the hydroxychloroquine malaria for broader use.

"We do point to the fact that our current clinical and systematic reviews carried out by Pan-American Health Organization and the current clinical evidence do not support the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19, not until the trials are completed and we have clear results," the WHO official said.

Brazil has registered 310,087 cases of the coronavirus so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.