BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil set a daily record of 4,249 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, with overwhelmed hospitals running low on supplies and the Senate about to open an investigation into President Jair Bolsonaro’s government response, which has been the pandemic from the start.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brazil is nearing the one-day record the United States recorded of 4,405 deaths on Jan. 20. The outbreak in Brazil is spiraling out of control, with vaccine shortages and Bolsonaro fighting lockdowns.
The public health system is increasingly showing signs of collapsing under the caseload, and a survey by the National Association of Private Hospitals (ANAHP) this week suggests that even the wealthiest hospitals are short of critical drugs.
According to the ANAHP survey of 88 member hospitals across Brazil, three out of four private hospitals said they have a week or less of supplies for the treatment of COVID-19, including oxygen, anesthesia, and essential drugs for intubation.
Bolsonaro’s government has minimized the risk of hospitals running out of medicines as the right-wing leader tries to allay fears of the virus while speaking out against the state’s and locals’ efforts to reduce traffic. to limit.
‘Let’s not cry for spilled milk. We are still going through a pandemic that is being used in part politically – not to defeat the virus, but to bring down the president, ”Bolsonaro said in a public speech on Wednesday. “In which country on earth do people not die? Unfortunately, people are dying everywhere. “
The Brazilian Senate plans to set up a special committee next week to investigate the government’s response to the pandemic, Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said.
A Supreme Court judge on Thursday ruled that the Senate should continue to install the committee, which Pacheco had tried to postpone despite having already been approved by a sufficient number of senators.
Although Pacheco stated that he would abide by the court order, Pacheco said it was too early to conduct an investigation while Brazil was still struggling with the crisis and that the committee would endanger the health of its members. because the meetings are held in person.
More than 345,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Brazil, making it the second deadliest outbreak after the United States, whose population is about 50% larger at around 330 million.
Brazil’s Supreme Court also ruled on Thursday that state and municipal bans at religious gatherings were legal, in one fell swoop for Bolsonaro, who called them an attack on religious freedom.
As Brazil is suffering the worst of the pandemic, the country has become a testing ground for new vaccines.
Health regulator Anvisa approved the fifth late-phase trial for a coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, greenlighting an investigation by Canadian Medicago R&D Inc and GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Anvisa said the companies were authorized to conduct Phase 3 studies in Brazil. The companies are recruiting about 3,500 Brazilian volunteers for the study, including about 30,000 people, from the US, Canada, Europe and Latin America.
Reporting by Jake Spring and Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Additional reporting by Eduardo Simoes and Tatiana Bautzer; Edited by Diane Craft and Grant McCool