Brazilian pandemic drama spreading to South American neighbors

MONTEVIDEO: With the coronavirus spreading out of control in Brazil, the South American giant's neighbors are feeling the heat as their new Covid-19 infections are also on the rise.

Brazil surpassed 300,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday and has seen record daily infections over the last week, with an average of 2,273 fatalities.

It's been blamed on a local variant of the virus that is believed to be more contagious.

But now, according to the Pan American Health Organization, cases are rising also in the Venezuelan states of Bolivar and Amazonas, Pando department in Bolivia and the Loreto region in Peru -- all of which border Brazil.

Several countries such as Uruguay, Venezuela and Peru blame the new Brazilian variant for massive jumps in their cases.

Since it was first detected in the Amazon city of Manaus at the end of 2020, several countries have banned flights from Brazil and closed their land borders with it.

But three months later, the Brazilian variant has been detected in 15 countries or territories in the Americas.

Close to 24 million of the 600 million people living in Latin America and the Caribbean have contracted Covid-19 and more than 750,000 have died, according to an AFP count based on official figures.