32,912 Lives Lost: July Records Highest Monthly Number of Covid-19 Deaths in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In July, Brazil recorded 32,912 confirmed deaths by Covid-19, according to data from the media outlets consortium with the country’s Health Secretariats. The figure is the highest recorded in a single month since the start of the pandemic.

The data was obtained by subtracting the total deaths on June 30th (59,656) from the total deaths through July 31st, which were 92,568 by 8 PM. The figures for the preceding months were found using the same methodology.

Since the first Covid-19 case was recorded in Brazil, the number of monthly deaths has continued to increase. July was the second consecutive month in which over 30,000 people died on Brazilian soil due to infection with the novel coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2).

The media outlets consortium initiated a joint survey in early June. Therefore, the monthly data for May, April, March, and February are exclusive to G1 surveys. However, the source for both surveys is the same: the state Health Secretariats.

According to epidemiologist Pedro Hallal, dean of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), the rising death rates show Brazil’s “total failure” in fighting the pandemic.

The epidemiologist, in charge of Epicovid, considered the largest Brazilian study on the prevalence of the coronavirus, states that the country has failed in the main measures that could contain the transmission of the disease: massive testing, the search for active cases, and social distancing.

The measures to restrict social contact, implemented in March in several parts of the country, signaled a good start for Brazil until April, assesses Hallal, but they have been relaxed since May.

Epidemiologist Paulo Lotufo, from USP’s (São Paulo University) School of Medicine, believes the trend is for a reduction in the number of deaths from now on, since Covid-19 did not reach all Brazilian states at the same time, and there is evidence of a decrease in the number of cases and deaths in the most populous states.

He believes that even in states where deaths are increasing, the trend is that they will soon peak, and then begin to decline.

The United States, the country with the most Covid-19 deaths in the world, has recorded a drop in the number of monthly deaths since April, a trend opposite to Brazil.

In July, 23,851 deaths of Americans were reported to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.). The number broke a record in April when over 50,000 people died on US soil from the disease.

The American figures were also computed using the total number of deaths on the last day of each month minus the total number on the last day of the preceding month, according to W.H.O. bulletins.

Despite the reduction in the number of deaths occurring in the US, there was an increase in infections in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas throughout July, which forced local governments to reconsider reopening the economy.

Meanwhile in Europe, the W.H.O. has warned of the increase in contagion among youths. According to the organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom, transmission peaks recorded in several European countries have been caused, partly, by youths who lowered their guard in the northern hemisphere summer.

On Friday, July 31st, Mexico became the country with the third-most Covid-19 deaths in the world, beating out the United Kingdom but lagging behind Brazil and the United States.

Fifth on the list is India, followed by Italy, France, Spain, Peru, and Iran, the ten countries with the most deaths in the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University monitoring system.

Source: G1