RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has passed the United States, Mexico and Peru in the last two weeks and has become the country with more deaths by Covid-19 in the American continent in relation to its population, according to Our World in Data.
Brazil currently records 1,756 deaths per million inhabitants and surpassed Mexico on April 7th, Peru on April 13th, and the U.S. on April 14th.
The 10 countries with most proportional deaths in the Americas are:
Brazil: 1,756 deaths per 1 million inhabitants
Peru: 1,722
USA: 1,713
Mexico: 1,646
Panama: 1,434
Colombia: 1,342
Chile: 1,317
Argentina: 1,310
Bolivia: 1,083
Ecuador: 1,003
In absolute terms, the U.S. registers the most Covid-19 victims in the world (567,000), followed by Brazil (373,000) and Mexico (212,000).
Last week, as the pandemic worsened in South America, the world reached the sad mark of 3 million deaths from Covid-19. The situation has worsened in the region mainly due to Brazil, and South America is currently the region with most deaths caused by the new coronavirus in the world, ahead of Europe.
Brazil alone has recorded more deaths since the end of March than the entire European Union. The European bloc gathers 27 countries and has more than 446 million inhabitants (more than twice the Brazilian population).
Until early February, when it registered about 1,000 deaths per day (a third of what it currently registers), Brazil was the 7th of the continent in proportional deaths. Besides the USA, Mexico and Peru, the country was also behind Panama, Colombia and Argentina.
The country also had a lower average of new Covid-19 victims in relation to its population than the USA, Mexico, Peru, Panama and Colombia. As the country’s death toll escalated to over 4,200 in a single day, Brazil saw the average number of deaths go from about 5 victims of the new coronavirus per 1 million per day in mid-February to about 13 today.
Now, in addition to leading the sad mark in the Americas, Brazil is also the 13th country with most proportional deaths in the world. The top 20 countries with most proportional deaths in the world are:
Czech Republic: 2,654 deaths per 1 million inhabitants
Hungary: 2,606
San Marino: 2,563
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 2,373
Montenegro: 2,275
Bulgaria: 2,186
North Macedonia: 2,132
Belgium: 2,048
Slovakia: 2,034
Slovenia: 2,000
Italy: 1,933
United Kingdom: 1,878
Brazil: 1,756
Peru: 1,722
United States: 1,713
Portugal: 1,661
Mexico: 1,646
Spain: 1,646
Poland: 1,639
Croatia: 1,598
Since the beginning of February, Brazil has passed in the proportional ranking several countries that have been hit hard by Covid-19 waves, such as Portugal, Spain and France.
Restrictive measures
After teetering on the brink of health collapse, Portugal adopted a strict lockdown that succeeded in bringing down Covid-19 infection and death tolls. Now, the country is reopening outdoor museums, schools, and restaurants after two months.
France reached the sad mark of 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday (15th), at a time when ICUs are still full and vaccination against the coronavirus is still slipping. It was the 8th country to surpass the symbolic mark.
In the midst of a third wave in Europe, the country enacted stricter confinement measures at the end of March. The intention was to relax them in May, but with the numbers still high, there is a possibility that the isolation will be extended.
Weekly record of cases
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday (19) that the world has recorded a record of more than 5.2 million new cases of Covid-19 in the last seven days and deaths rose for the fifth week in a row.
The rise in cases is driven by India, which set a record for the 13th time in the past 15 days. There were more than 1.5 million new cases in the last seven days and almost 2.5 million in two weeks.
The Indian government now blames social distancing and not wearing masks as causes for the outbreak. But doctors and experts also point to government complacency, by refusing to adopt a nationwide lockdown, and new variants of the coronavirus as reasons.
3 million Covid deaths
In his warning, Tedros recalled that the first 1 million Covid-19 deaths occurred after nine months of the pandemic, in September. It took another four months for the world to reach 2 million deaths, and only three months to reach the sad mark of 3 million victims.
Source: G1