RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After announcing the deployment of refrigerated containers, the city of Manaus, capital of Amazonas, reported on Tuesday, April 21st, that it is digging mass graves to bury victims of the novel coronavirus in the Nossa Senhora Aparecida public cemetery in the Tarumã neighborhood, West Zone of the city.
According to this Tuesday’s report, Manaus has already recorded 163 deaths by Covid-19. In the state, the number of confirmed cases reached 2,270, with 193 deaths in total.
The rapid increase of deaths by Covid-19 in the state has led to dozens of graves being opened in the same cemetery since last Friday, April 17th. According to municipal reports, since March there has been an increase of approximately 50 percent in demand. Notaries in the capital also extended the on-call system to meet the high demand for death records.
On Tuesday, April 20th, Manaus announced in a statement that, due to the large increase in the number of burials in the cemetery, the Municipal Secretariat of Urban Cleaning (SEMULSP) decided to introduce a system of mass graves to bury Covid-19 victims.
“The methodology, already used in other countries, preserves the identity of the bodies and family ties, with distance between caskets and the identification of graves. The measure was required to meet the demand for burials in the capital,” the note said.
The SEMULSP had reported on Monday that it had been forced to install refrigerated containers in the cemetery to accommodate caskets awaiting burial. Videos on social media show rows of hearses waiting to bury bodies.
The measure aims to speed up the SOS Funeral service, which today is the only one available to the most vulnerable population, free of charge, to conduct the funeral of people who are unable to afford the burial costs.
“The refrigerated units are being used to store the caskets, while relatives are waiting for the burial, without the SOS Funeral vehicle needing to wait for the release, being able to return to the base for a new call,” points out the SEMULSP note.
Cold storage containers also were installed by the government of Amazonas in hospital units in Manaus after the repercussions of a video showing bodies suspected of having Covid-19 placed inside João Lúcio Hospital, in the eastern zone, alongside hospitalized patients.
Patients die waiting for a bed
Dona Maria das Graças, 63, was admitted to the Amazonas public health system five days ago and died of suspected Covid-19 infection on Monday, April 20th. She was waiting for a hospital transfer to access an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but died before she got there. The family denounced medical negligence in the case.
The daughter, in an interview with Rede Amazônica, while commenting on the case, denounced the negligence of doctors and nurses. It was a distressing wait from beginning to end,” she commented.
The State Secretary of Health (SUSAM) stated that the patient would be transferred from the São Raimundo SPA in Manaus to the Getúlio Vargas University Hospital – also in the capital. The transfer never happened, with the worsening of the case.
The Amazonas public health system is suffering an imminent collapse and now has 91 percent of its ICU beds filled. By Monday, according to the government, among confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases, there were 815 patients hospitalized in the state.
According to the state, Amazonas currently has 682 ventilators registered in the National Registry of Health Establishments (CNES). Of this total, 232 are intended to assist Covid-19 patients, 66 percent of which are available for the pandemic.
After denunciations, the Amazonas State Audit Office started an investigation and is demanding government feedback on the purchase of 28 pulmonary ventilators for the public health network in the amount of R$2.970 million (US$594,000). The State Audit Office reported that the cost averaged R$106,200 per unit.
According to the document from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Audit, signed by João Barroso de Souza, the federal government has purchased the same ventilators at a unit price of R$57,300. The prosecutor general reports that the figure is almost half the price of the equipment purchased by Amazonas.
‘I’m afraid of dying and losing my daughter’
At the Balbina Mestrinho maternity ward in Manaus, a 27-year-old housewife in isolation with symptoms of the novel coronavirus reports the lack of proper vigilance during pregnancy. She fears losing her life and her daughter.
On Tuesday morning, April 21st, housewife Suelen Martins, six months pregnant, said that six days earlier she felt unwell while at home. She had a high fever and took medication, but other symptoms emerged. She then rushed to the maternity ward in the South Zone of Manaus, where she has been hospitalized since.
She is in isolation and is on assisted breathing in a “pink room,” which are separate areas on the public network to attend Covid-19 patients. There are another two pregnant women there.
“Five days ago I was home with a fever, I took medication and the fever was gone. I started to vomit and cough. I came to the maternity ward, they placed me in this pink room and I was breathing with the help of oxygen because I was short of breath. At first, the doctor attended me, but then I was abandoned”, she said.
With several symptoms, the woman said that she had been tested for the novel coronavirus, but by Tuesday she had not been confirmed by the maternity ward. There, she complains of a lack of structure.
“Since the day I came in, I do not even know the test result, they were to do an x-ray and have not done it. They haven’t told me what is wrong with me. I’m afraid of losing my life, my daughter. I’ve thought about going home in fear of the worst happening here.”
In a note, the direction of Balbina Mestrinho Maternity reported that “all patients with respiratory symptoms and who seek the maternity are being admitted and treated in an exclusive ward, apart from the other patients, as the flow established for the occasion”.
“All are receiving medical follow-up, with a daily assessment and an appropriate medical prescription for each case. None of the patients have serious symptoms, but they are receiving all the care given to suspected Covid-19 cases,” reads an excerpt from the note.
Coronavirus in Amazonas State
Amazonas recorded another 110 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, April 21st, reaching a total of 2,270 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS-AM) report. Eight more Covid-19 deaths were also confirmed, totaling 193 deaths in Amazonas.
According to this Tuesday’s report, 1,170 people diagnosed with Covid-19 are in social or home isolation, which represents 51.54 percent of confirmed cases in Amazonas. Between Monday and Tuesday, 91 more people recovered from the disease and are now outside the virus transmission period, totaling 726 recovered cases.
Source: G1