SAO PAULO (Reuters) -COVID-19 cases in the Americas surged 27.2% last week from the prior one, driven primarily by a spike in infections in the United States, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.
More than half of a total 918,000 infections came from North America as U.S. cases jumped by 33% to 605,000 in the last week, PAHO said.
Infections in North America have now been climbing for the past seven weeks, it said.
PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne noted that many countries and local governments are abandoning masking and social distancing requirements and have reopened borders after a period of lower transmission.
However, too many people remain at risk as only 14 of the 51 countries and territories in the Americas have reached the World Health Organization’s goal of vaccinating 70% of their population, she added during a news conference.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Steven Grattan; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
