MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2020) The coronavirus pandemic with months-long lockdowns will severely affect the economy of Mexico and Central American countries since the majority of the population need to go outside to make a living, Jordi Raich Curco, the head of the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Mexico said on Tuesday.
"One is obviously the economic consequence, but which is particularly strong in our region, in this region of Mexico and Central America ... because 60 to 70 percent of the population of Mexico and Central America make a living out of informal economy. They need to go out every single day to sell, to find job in order to feed their families," Curco said at Valdai Club online discussion devoted to the global response to the pandemic.
According to the regional delegation head, the coronavirus-related lockdown will last from five to seven months at least with the region already being on the fourth-fifth month of restrictions.
"So the economic crisis is deepening. And, in turn, this is putting a lot of pressure on the governments of the region to reopen the economies, what they are doing slowly, but they are reopening the economy in the middle of the peak, which is not a peak, which is actually a high plateau," Curco added.
The specialist also noted that apart from the economy, the pandemic would affect the precarious health services, adding that Central American countries have very limited health services and lack the technology, human resources and equipment. Another consequence of the ongoing coronavirus is increasing violence, Curco added.
Mexico is the second worst-hit country in Latin America after Brazil with 385,036 infections and 43,374 fatalities being reported so far.
