The region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has high levels of income inequality and urbanization. This leaves a large percentage of the population exposed and vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks (1). The COVID-19 outbreak occurred suddenly, within a complex economic, social and political context and at a time of low economic growth and high levels of informal labour. Structural challenges of poverty, deep inequality across different dimensions, and weak health and social protection systems exacerbated the region’s vulnerability to the pandemic