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1 1 (October 07, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdcby0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated October 7,2020 Latin America and the Caribbean: Impact of COVlD-19 The Coronavirus Disease2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having widespread economic, social, and political effects on Latin America and the Caribbean, a region with strong congressional interest because of deep U.S. linkages. As of October 6,2020, the region had almost 9.7 million confirmed cases (27% of cases worldwide) and over 357,000 deaths (34% of deaths worldwide). Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina have the highestnumbers of deaths in the region, and Brazilhas the highest deathtoll worldwide after the United States. The rankings change in terms of per capita deaths-Peru has the highestrecorded deaths per capita in the region, followed by Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador (see Table 1). Severalcountries have recently reported a gradual decline in cases and deaths from peaks in August 2020. Nevertheless, a University of Washington COVID-19 projection model forecasts that deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean could reach more than 500,000 by January 1, 2021. Experts and observers have expressed concern that some countries, such as Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, are significantly undercounting their death tolls. Many observers have expressed special concern for Venezuela, where the health care systemwas collapsing prior to the pandemic. (See CRS In Focus IF11029, The Venezuela Regio nalHumanitarian Crisis and COVID-1 9). When thepandemic first began to surge in the region in May 2020, the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Caris s a Etienne, expressed concern about the poor and other vulnerable groups at greatest risk, including particular concern for those living in cities, towns, and remote cormmnities in the Amazon Basin (including indigenous conmrunities), people ofAfrican descent, migrants in temporary settlements, and prisoners in crowded jails. In July 2020, PAHO is sued an alert urging countries to intensify effort to prevent further spread of the virus among indigenous conmrunities in the Americas. In September 2020, PAHO warned about increasing cases in Central America and the Caribbean. Before the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected 1.6% economic growth for the region in 2020 but forecast a recession for several countries. On June 24, 2020, the IMFrevised its regional forecast to a contractionof9.4%, with almost every country in recession. Economic recovery may be a protracted process in countries that rely heavily on global trade and investment, which the pandemic is significantly affecting. Oil-producing countries in the region, especially Venezuela and Ecuador-and, to ales ser extent, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico-are being negatively affected by the historic drop in the price ofoil that began in late February 2020. Caribbean nations that depend on touris mface deep economic recessions, with a projected gross domestic product decline of 10.3% in 2020, according to theIMF. The decline in economic growth in 2020 is expected to exacerbate income inequality and poverty throughout the region. Latin America was already the mostunequalregion in the world in terms of income inequality, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). ECLAC projects that in 2020, inequality will rise in all countries, with the worst results in the region's largest economies-Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. According to a July 2020 U.N. report, poverty is expected to increase from30.3% of the region's population in 2019 to 37.2% in 2020, an increase of 45 million people (to 230 million people total). Table I. COVID-l 9 Deaths and Mortality Rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (countries with more than 1,000 deaths, as of Oct. 6, 2020) Regional Deaths per Rank 100,000 (deaths per 100,000) Brazil 146,675 70.02 3 Mexico 81,877 64.88 6 Peru 32,742 102.35 I Colombia 26,844 54.07 8 Argentina 21,468 48.25 9 Chile 13,037 69.61 4 Ecuador 1 1,681 68.37 5 Bolivia 8,129 71.6 2 Guatemala 3,302 19.14 14 Honduras 2,433 25.38 10 Panama 2,430 58.18 7 Dom. Rep. 2,144 20.17 12 Total LAC 357,304 - - United States 210,181 64.24 Source: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center, Mortality Analyses, October 6,2020, updated daily, at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality. Note: The Bahamas had 24.29 deaths per 100,000, I I ± highest in the region, and Costa Rica had 19.74 deaths per 100,000, I 3h highest in the region. The World Bankhad predicted in April 2020 that remittances fromabroadto Latin America and the A A '2 xa S 1,k yg

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