Brazil coronavirus outbreak speeds up again as cases approach 6 million
Brazil is expected to surpass 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday as the world’s third worst coronavirus pandemic begins to surge again amid fears that a second wave is impending.
The South American country will join the United States and India as the only country to exceed 6 million. With around 170,000 confirmed deaths, Brazil has the second-highest death rate in the world.
Government data show that infections are on the rise again after a three-month drop in numbers that peaked in late July.
Many places have been locked down after the virus first appeared in Brazil in February, but life in the largest cities has largely returned to near pre-pandemic normality in recent weeks; bars, restaurants and shops are often full of people without wearing masks.
Over the past few days, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have seen an increase in hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients. In Rio this week, 90% of intensive care units in public hospitals were occupied, according to the Rio state health ministry office.
São Paulo reported an 18% increase in admissions to COVID-19 hospitals this week and stopped the dismantling of intensive care units.
According to Imperial College London data published this week, the rate of COVID-19 transmission reached 1.1 in Brazil after a few weeks below the 1 mark, which represents a slowdown in transmission.
Brazil reached a daily case load of just over 69,000 with about 1,600 deaths on July 29. By the end of October, the virus seemed to be under control, and the averages fell to 20,000 cases and 425 deaths per day.
But from this week to Thursday, the average daily deaths rose to 480 and cases to 26,500.
“The most important sign is the continuous average reversal of cases over the past two weeks,” said Marcelo Gomes, a public health researcher at the Fiocruz biomedical center.
Gomes said in the coming weeks whether Brazil’s numbers will settle on a new plateau, or whether the country has entered a second wave of contagion as Brazilians return to their normal lives.
“We are now at risk of a second wave without even leaving the first wave,” said epidemiologist Roberto Medronho of the medical school of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
Medronho said Brazil’s federal and state governments were not taking adequate action. The state of Sao Paulo announced this week that it will take uncertain measures to celebrate the New Year, but that it eliminates the possibility of another isolation.
“We are definitely not prepared,” Medronho said. -reuters-