RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil exceeded 1,000 confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday. All regions now have confirmed cases of the disease and at least 18 people have died.
The Ministry of Health announced that it is preparing to conduct up to ten million quick tests on the population, in addition to a further 27,000 tests that have already been released to the states.
São Paulo, the epicenter of the pandemic, with nearly 400 confirmed cases and at least 15 deaths, will go into quarantine as of Tuesday, March 24th, with the closure of all non-essential businesses.
The measure was announced by the governor of São Paulo, João Doria on Saturday and is expected to run until April 7th. The requirement to close down services to the public is valid for restaurants, bars and cafés, which may operate by deliveries, if they so desire. The population is advised to remain at home.
Doria said he would use the police to repress those who fail to comply with the ban on crowds, and mentioned parties and funk dances as examples of what cannot happen. Amid the chaos in healthcare, Jair Bolsonaro’s government has reduced the country’s projected growth: the GDP dropped from 2.1 to 0.02 percent, virtually zero.
The UN has projected a 35 percent increase in the number of people living below the poverty line in Latin America as a result of the crisis. In Portugal the number of deaths doubled from Friday to Saturday, from six victims to 12.
The global outbreak has led countries in Latin America and regions in the US to follow Europe’s lead and determine mandatory quarantine of their citizens.