South America Tightens Curbs As WHO Blasts EU Vaccine Rollout

‘We must speed up the process by ramping up manufacturing, reducing barriers to administering vaccines, and using every single vial we have in stock,’ says official

SANTIAGO

South American nations severely tightened coronavirus travel curbs including shutting their borders with Brazil, where infections are spiralling, as the WHO slammed Europe’s “unacceptably slow” vaccine rollout.

Many European Union (EU) nations are reeling from dramatic spikes in cases that have forced the reimposition of unpopular restrictions, including in Belgium where police used water cannon to disperse thousands who had gathered in violation of COVID-19 rules.

Spikes in South America have reached alarming levels, fuelled by a more contagious variant first detected in Brazil, as Chile closed all borders, Bolivia sealed its frontier with Brazil, and Peru went into a lockdown over Easter.

“We are in a very critical moment of the pandemic,” Chilean government spokesman Jaime Bellolio said on Thursday, as the nation announced a border closure starting Monday.

Intensive care units in Chile are close to capacity, and authorities are trying to speed up vaccinations in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19.