Coronavirus cases rising at alarming rate in India, South America

A health official collects personal identification information before taking swab samples of bakery workers Friday in Srinagar, India. (TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)

There’s no squashing this bug.

As many North American and European countries slowly begin reopening businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, other parts of the world are getting walloped by the outbreak.

New COVID-19 cases are rising at an alarming rate — over 100,000 per day over a recent seven-day period, reported CNN on Friday.

Throughout the month of April, daily coronavirus cases never exceeded 100,000, but within the last two weeks there have been less than 1000,000 on only five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

More distressing is that June 3 experienced an all-time high with 130,4000 confirmed cases.

Although broadened COVID-19 testing likely is one factor in the ballooning total, many countries still lack extensive examining capabilities.

The increase in case rates may be partially explained by increases in testing capacity, but there’s still not enough testing to achieve an accurate coronavirus count in many nations.

While the number of new cases has plateaued in many of the countries hit hard earliest during the pandemic — notably China, Italy and Spain — many countries, including India and South American ones, are dealing with increasing rates.

Confirmed cases are doubling every week in Iraq, Libya, Mozambique and Uganda, while the cases are doubling every two weeks in India and Brazil, according to data.

“The Americas continue to account for the most cases. For several weeks, the number of cases reported each day in the Americas has been more than the rest of the world put together,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We are especially worried about Central and South America, where many countries are witness accelerating epidemics.”

Brazil recorded 1,349 COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, according to data from its health ministry.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who in March referred to the coronavirus as a “little flu," drew outrage on Tuesday when he bluntly stated, “We are sorry for the dead, but that’s everyone’s destiny.”

Flávio Dino, the governor of Maranhão state, puts full blame on the country’s high death toll on his president.

“I have no doubt that Bolsonaro is in greater measure for this terrible rate that is going to continue going for several months,” according to The Guardian.