(Washington) The number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic has exceeded 100 million across the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced on Wednesday.
More than half of these cases (51 million) have been reported in the United States and 22 million in Brazil, according to PAHO, which also indicates that cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in 19 countries and territories on the continent.
“Countries must maintain their public health measures to limit the transmission of the virus and adjust it to local risks” of spread, PAHO director Carissa Etienne said in a statement.
According to PAHO, the majority of countries in the Americas will have reached or exceeded by the end of the year the goal set by the World Health Organization of 40% of the eligible population vaccinated against the coronavirus. But some countries like Haiti, Guatemala or Jamaica should not achieve this.