Covid-19 in Latin America: three months on

Three months since the first recorded Covid-19 case in Latin America, the region has seen over 385,000 confirmed infections, averaging over 10,000 additional cases each week and a grand total of 21,629 deaths. From north to south, the Americas outstrip Europe by over one million Covid-19 cases, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. Brazil and the U.S. combine for almost 1.6 million coronavirus infections.

Excluding the U.S. — which has the biggest case and death count in the world by some distance — countries in Central and South America are confronting the reality that the region may become the next Covid-19 epicenter, thanks in large part to the uncontrollable rise in Brazil.

Covid-19 approaches across Latin America have varied from country to country. In El Salvador, the country was put on a strict and early lockdown before the virus had even arrived, while governments in the Southern Cone have been praised for effective containment measures. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro has become a global pariah for his inactivity in the face of the pandemic and flippancy toward the disease’s severity.

The median response, however, has been commendable, with leaders encouraging people to stay home and advocating for science-based strategies. However, the economic disaster set to hit the region will do so without prejudice, regardless of how well they fought Covid-19.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean to fall 5.2 percent in 2020, with a 3.4 percent recovery in 2021. The first visible effects of the upcoming crisis...