International
Dengue epidemic in Latin America reaches alarming figures in the first quarter of 2024
The dengue epidemic in South America has reached alarming figures so far in 2024, with a notable increase in cases and deaths compared to the previous year, especially in Brazil, a country that has surpassed its own annual historical record of dengue infections, to date more than two million cases and 715 deaths.
The situation is especially worrying in Brasilia, with 5,774 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Authorities estimate that the number could amount to 4.2 million by the end of the year and have begun to offer vaccination despite the shortage of doses.
In Argentina, the Ministry of Health reported 151,310 cases of dengue, 134,202 of them registered this year, with an incidence of 321 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and 106 deaths, 96 of which occurred in 2024.
In addition, nineteen of the 24 territorial divisions have reported the presence of the virus, removing only Patagonian regions due to unfavorable weather conditions for mosquitoes.
The Government of Javier Milei has opted for strategies that do not include mass vaccination, saying that there is a lack of evidence about the effectiveness of vaccines in current outbreaks.
For its part, Uruguay reached 158 cases of dengue on Monday (62 native and 96 imported) after adding 10 new cases in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Public Health said in its daily report, in which it indicated that the majority of imports are from people who traveled to Argentina and Brazil.
On the other hand, Paraguay also reports worrying figures.
Since September 2023, the beginning of the most recent outbreak, until the second week of March 2024, the country has suffered 74 deaths due to dengue, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare reported.
Data from the General Directorate of Health Surveillance indicate that 35% of the deceased were over 60 years of age.
Peru is also experiencing an increase with 79,741 cases reported so far in 2024, an increase of 262% compared to the same period of the previous year.
82 deaths have been reported, a considerable jump from the 29th of the corresponding period in 2023.
The incidence of the disease is 233.77 per 100,000 inhabitants, with La Libertad being the most affected region.
In Colombia, the National Institute of Health has registered 55,340 cases, with 40.2% showing signs of alarm and 1% of serious cases. As of March 3, 94 probable deaths have been reported, with 10 confirmed cases and 69 under study.
The incidence of dengue at the end of February 2024 was 154.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants at risk, in stark contrast to the 48.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants reported in the same period of the previous year.
As so last in 2023, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned of the increase in dengue cases in the Americas. Last year the figure was 4.5 million cases.
Dengue, whose main vector of transmission in almost the entire American continent is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, affects people of all ages, and according to the World Health Organization, behind the expansion of the epidemic is the climate phenomenon of El Niño, as evidenced by the fact that it is growing in all parts of the world, except in Europe, according to the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom.
The increase in dengue cases in Latin America, according to experts, is also due to the need for more effective preventive and control actions, as well as constant epidemiological surveillance to combat the progression of the disease.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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