Peru COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 30,000

By Democracy Now

HAVANA TIMES – In Britain, the drug company AstraZeneca has paused its Phase 3 vaccine trials after a trial participant came down with an unexplained illness. The vaccine is being developed with the University of Oxford.

Globally, the death toll from COVID-19 is approaching 900,000. In Peru, the confirmed COVID-19 death toll has reached 30,000 — Latin America’s third highest after Brazil and Mexico. But the true toll could be more than double the official number, with over 68,000 more deaths recorded across Peru this year compared to 2019. Residents of the capital Lima are reporting large gatherings and lapses in social distancing measures.

Aide Galvez: “People think that coronavirus is a joke. This is something they don’t believe. They think it’s a smokescreen. I have family members who have died because of COVID, so this is not a game. This is real.”

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are spiking in Britain again, forcing the government to reinstate a ban of most gatherings larger than six people.