Latin American nations ease restrictions as COVID cases drop

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombians will soon be going to movie theaters without having to wear face masks. Chile opens its borders next week for the first time in two years. Mexico's president has declared the pandemic over. And in Rio de Janeiro, tens of thousands attended Carnival parades just two months after the world-famous spectacle was postponed to prevent COVID-19 infections.

Even as coronavirus cases rise half a world away in China and authorities there impose new lockdowns, plummeting infection rates in Latin America have countries eliminating restrictions on mass gatherings, lifting some travel requirements and scrapping mask mandates that have been in place for two years.

The region has been hit hard by the pandemic, with nations like Brazil and Peru registering some of the world’s highest death tolls. But cases and deaths fell this month in most places to lows resembling levels last seen in the first two months of the pandemic.

Some epidemiologists believe vaccination campaigns and months of exposure to different strains of the virus have helped the region’s populations resist new waves of contagion.

“What we appear to be seeing is that while the virus is still circulating, many people are not falling ill or presenting symptoms,” said Fernando de la Hoz, an epidemiology professor at the National University in Bogota, Colombia’s capital.

Last year Latin American countries were pummeled by the coronavirus, with the Delta and Gamma variants — the latter of which emerged in Brazil — infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands.

In June, Brazil reached 500,000 deaths and seven countries in South America were among the 10 nations in the world with the highest death rates per capita.

Peru is now the only Latin American nation still to have that dubious...