WHO director warns Latin America is opening too early, COVID-19 still a risk

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a face mask holds a dog outside a closed square as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico, August 6, 2020. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Latin America has started to resume normal social and public life at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic still requires major control interventions, World Health Organization regional director Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday.

Coronavirus cases in Colombia's border area with Venezuela have increased ten-fold in the last two weeks, Etienne said in a virtual briefing from Washington with other Pan American Health Organization directors.