BRASILIA / PORTO ALEGRE (Reuters) – Hospitals in Brazil’s major cities are reaching capacity, health officials warned, as the country recorded the world’s highest COVID-19 death toll last week, putting tighter restrictions on the most populous on Thursday state.
Intensive care units treating COVID-19 patients have reached a critical occupancy rate of more than 90% in 15 of the state’s 27 capitals, according to the Fiocruz Biomedical Center.
In Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, the main COVID-19 referral hospital stopped recording new cases because all IC beds were occupied. A Reuters photographer saw patients with respirators throng the emergency rooms.
This is a warning. We have reached capacity and people need to become aware of how bad the situation is, ”said Claudio Oliveira, director of Conceiçao Hospital. It was the first time the hospital had sent patients away since the H1N1 epidemic in 2009.
Oliveira told reporters that the hospital was closing its doors to prevent the collapse of care for the COVID patients there.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours surpassed 2,000 for the second time, the health ministry said Thursday, with 2,233 deaths and new infections at 75,412.
With more than 272,000 dead, the pandemic death toll in Brazil last year is behind the United States alone. But for the past week, there have been an average of more than 1,600 deaths a day in Brazil, more than 1,400 in the United States, where the outbreak has subsided.
While President Jair Bolsonaro opposes lockdowns and urges Brazilians out of their homes, governors and mayors struggle to enforce restrictions, often pleading in vain to a population accustomed to the rising tide of the epidemic.
The far-right president again attacked governors on Thursday for the lockdowns, including Sao Paulo state’s attempt to ban football games. He said they were increasing poverty with a drug worse than the virus.
How long can we bear this irresponsibility? You close everything and you destroy millions of jobs. Lockdown is not a cure, ”Bolsonaro said in a video address for a business group with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes at his side.
Brazil’s two most populous cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, tightened measures on Thursday as their hospitals grappled with a second wave of the virus, driven by a more contagious variant emerging in the Amazon region.
As Europe and the United States ramp up vaccinations and lower their caseload, Brazil’s federal government is getting off to a slow start, with only 2% of the 210 million Brazilians fully vaccinated so far.
In the country’s capital, Brasilia, which has a nightly curfew, the IC units of public hospitals are 97% full and the private units 99%, forcing the city to re-establish field hospitals, such as during a peak in cases last year.
On Thursday, Sao Paulo Governor João Doria announced a “new phase” of restrictions to enforce social distancing, arguing that it is now the only weapon against the spread of the virus.
They include a curfew from 8 PM to 5 AM, the suspension of religious services and sporting events, including football matches, and people not allowed to use beaches and parks.
“This is a difficult, unpopular decision. No governor wants to stop economic activity in their country, ”Doria said at a press conference.
The state of Sao Paulo, home to approximately 44 million people, currently only allows essential stores such as supermarkets and pharmacies to receive customers.
The Sao Paulo health secretary said hospitals in more than half of the state’s counties are full and half of patients are under the age of 50.
Last year, the most serious cases were concentrated among older Brazilians.
Additional reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Written by Jamie McGeever and Anthony Boadle; Edited by Brad Haynes, Bill Berkrot, Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis