CARACAS — Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa Etienne warned that 75 percent of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean has yet to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and reported that PAHO is accelerating its drive to expand vaccine access throughout the region. “Three fourths of people in

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its intent to designate the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as a “protection zone,” a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) designation that allows the United States to maintain its current animal health status should there be a detection of

MANICHE, Haiti — At the edge of a pile of rubble, Michael Jules plunged an iron bar over and over into the crumbling concrete of his grandmother’s home. A younger cousin squatted at his feet, pulling away debris with a trowel. It was Jules’ third day working the spot like

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the opening session of the eleventh Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-United Nations General Meeting: Let me begin by thanking you for taking part in this eleventh CARICOM-UN General Meeting. The two years since our last Meeting have proved to be

SINGAPORE — Guests began leaving a Genting Cruise Lines “cruise to nowhere” this evening after nearly 3,000 passengers and crew were confined to their staterooms through most of the day following the detection of a COVID-19 case onboard. A 40-year-old passenger tested positive onboard and the result was confirmed after

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Mutant strains of COVID-19 present the greatest risk of infection to people in the U.S. Virgin Islands because the B117 and the delta variant are at least 50 percent more transmissible than previous versions of coronavirus, health experts warn. The delta variant (first detected in India in

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Cases of life-threatening malnutrition are expected to more than double among young Haitian children this year, due to COVID-19, gang violence and extreme weather associated with climate change, the U.N. children’s fund UNICEF said today. Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has long had one of the

BRASILIA — The death toll from COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean was due to pass one million people today, according to a Reuters tally, with the pandemic worsening in the part of the world with the highest per capita death rate. From the dusty highlands of Bolivia to

MEXICO CITY — Hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic have forced former sex workers in Mexico back into the trade years after they left, made it more dangerous and reduced some to having sex in cars or on sidewalks for lack of available hotels. Claudia, who like most of the

BRIDGETOWN — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said 32 countries and territories in the Americas have reported the presence of at least one of the three “variants of concern” of the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, according to a new Epidemiological Update. These variants may increase transmissibility of the