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COVID-19 opens the door to further Chinese influence in Latin America
This appeared in The Millennial Source
In news that could lead to increased relations between China and Latin America, Pan American Health Organization head Dr. Carissa Etienne has labeled Latin America the new “epicenter” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus in Latin America
Though Latin America largely escaped the early wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the region now faces a huge health and economic crisis as the number of cases and deaths has risen dramatically. The region has seen some five million confirmed cases with 200,000 deaths and Brazil is the second-most affected nation in the world with 94,000 deaths and nearly three million confirmed cases.
The health crisis in Latin America has been particularly damaging due to the region’s widespread inequality and the living conditions of its informal workers, many of whom lack access to health care as they have no work or income. Political mismanagement of the crisis in many Latin American countries, Brazil in particular, has further exacerbated the crisis.
As a whole, Latin America faces a drop in its gross domestic product of some 5.2% in 2020.
