WHO: South America is a new 'epicentre'

"South America has become a new epicentre for the disease," Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's emergencies program, said at a news briefing on Friday.

"We've seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases and clearly there's a concern across many of those countries, but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point,” Mike Ryan said. "In a sense, South America has become a new epicenter for the disease,” he added.

"In terms of attack rates, the highest attack rates are actually in Amazonas. About 490 persons infected per 100,000 population, which is quite a high attack rate.”

Ryan noted Brazilian authorities have approved broad use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19. He reiterated that current clinical evidence does not support the unproven drug's widespread use against the new disease, given its risks.

Brazil has confirmed more than 330,000 cases of the coronavirus, surpassing Russia to become the nation with the second-highest number of infections, behind only the United States. Peru has 108,769, Chile has 61,857, Ecuador has 35,828 and Colombia has 18,330. The rest of the continent is suffering in smaller numbers, but the rates of increase are not showing signs of flattening just yet.