Ramaswami: Zoe PC 23 Mar 2020 The government of Jair Bolsonaro has been severely criticized for its flawed handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, an image of Bolsonaro failing to put on a mask properly is screened on a building as a mark of protest. Photo: Brasil De Fato The government of Jair Bolsonaro has been severely criticized for its flawed handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, an image of Bolsonaro failing to put on a mask properly is screened on a building as a mark of protest. Photo: Brasil De Fato Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is close to 340,000 and over 14,700 have died (as of March 23). Europe, the epicenter of the pandemic, has seen an exponential rise in the number of cases with governments scrambling to contain the spread and make up for their slow response. The United States closely follows Italy, Spain and Germany with over 35,000 confirmed cases. In Asia, several countries have been relatively successful in containing the spread of the virus although risks still remain. At the moment, Latin America and the Caribbean are still in the early stages of the outbreak, though by now, almost all countries in the region have registered cases, with the exception of Belize. Brazil and Chile have the highest number of cases confirmed 1,546 and 632.