Photos: South America is the new COVID-19 epicentre; Brazil worst hit

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared South America the new epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, with Brazil being the worst hit followed by Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. Infections are rising and ICUs are swamped in Peru, Chile and Ecuador -- countries lauded for imposing early shutdowns. ...read more

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Updated on May 26, 2020 11:07 AM IST

An aerial view of mass graves, of which some are occupied at Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared South America “a new epicentre” of the coronavirus pandemic, where Brazil has been worst hit, followed by Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. (Amanda Perobelli / REUTERS)

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Siblings Julia and Jorge Lopez decorate the burial site of their mother, who recently died from coronavirus, at a public cemetery in Lima, Peru. Peru has reported 11,959 cases and 3,456 deaths due to the virus. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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Brazilian government health workers arrive with test kits as they visit riverside communities of the municipality of Melgaco to test them for COVID-19 infections in the state of Para. The death toll in Brazil has soared past 22,000 and with 367,906 reported cases, it has the second-biggest caseload in the world behind the US. (Tarso Sarraf / AFP)

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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro faces supporters while departing his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia. Bolsonaro on May 24 hailed supporters rallying in the country’s capital to back his administration. He was seen posing for photographs, shaking people’s hands and even carrying a young boy on his shoulders, part of a pattern of flouting and discouraging social isolation measures advised by health professionals. (AP / PTI)

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Health workers move a COVID-19 infected patient to a C-130 Hercules aircraft, to be taken to the city of Concepcion, at a Chilean Air Force base in Santiago. In Chile, more than 90% of intensive care beds were full last week in Santiago, where the main cemetery dug 1,000 graves to prepare for a wave of deaths. Chile has so far reported 79, 997 cases and 761 deaths. (Martin Bernetti / AFP)

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A health worker attends to a COVID-19 patient inside the intensive care unit at the Guillermo Almenara hospital in Lima. Peru has 2.5 intensive care beds per 100,000 people, one quarter of the global standard. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)

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A demonstrator seen sitting in front of the National Congress in Brasilia. “South America has become a new epicentre for the disease,” WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said on May 22. “We’ve seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases... but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point.” (Adriano Machado / REUTERS)