Photographer: Victor Moriyama / Bloomberg
Photographer: Victor Moriyama / Bloomberg
Brazil first reported more than 4,000 daily deaths from Covid-19, as the pandemic continues to rage across the country.
The Health Ministry registered 4,195 fatalities on Tuesday, bringing the total since the virus first arrived to 336,947. It is the second highest number globally, trailing only 86,979 cases in the US in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 13.1 million.
“If Brazil maintains its current pace, the country is likely to reach 5,000 daily deaths by April,” said Christovam Barcellos, a researcher at Fiocruz.
Latin America’s greatest nation has been blown away stark milestones in 2021, with reports of cases and deaths almost daily. The resurgence of the virus, fueled by lax social distance measures and a new, more contagious variant, left the country exceeding 200,000 and then 300,000 deaths in just over two months, leaving hospitals overwhelmed.
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In addition to the species that originated in the Amazon city of Manaus and which has spread rapidly since the New Year, Sao Paulo authorities also discovered a new Covid-19 variant in the city of Sorocaba, near the state capital, the local government said Wednesday. The new species is said to be similar to that found in South Africa, and there is still no evidence that the variant is circulating in other regions of the country.
Meanwhile, Brazilian authorities are trying to speed up the vaccination rate. The country had taken 25.4 million shots as of Monday, according to Bloomberg data, enough to cover 9.4% of the population with one shot. The country vaccinated 1 million people in 24 hours for the first time on Thursday.
Anvisa, the country’s health regulator, on Wednesday approved the emergency use of the Johnson & Johnson shot – the agency’s fourth vaccine. Brazil has purchased 38 million doses of the booster, but the doses are not expected to arrive until the second half of the year.
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At a time when vaccines are scarce, the only measure that could limit contamination is a lockdown, which should be accompanied by measures to help the most vulnerable, said public health expert Ana Freitas Ribeiro.
However, President Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose social distancing measures imposed by local governments. On Wednesday, the health minister and the head of the Senate emerged from the first meeting of the joint task force to oversee the response to the pandemic touting the importance of masks and avoiding large gatherings during the upcoming Easter holidays. When it was his turn to speak, Bolsonaro reiterated well-known rules to bring life back to normal and criticize lockdowns.
“With our federal government denying the pandemic and giving a different speech from the state governments, the situation is worse,” said Ribeiro, a physician at Emilio Ribas Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Of Brazil’s 27 states, 18 have ICs occupied for more than 90%, Fiocruz said in a report. The combination of intense handover and overwhelmed hospitals has contributed to the ongoing and growing number of deaths, according to the report.
Barcellos added that the collapse of the health system could also lead to an increase in deaths from other illnesses as patients cannot receive care.