Four Months into Quarantine, São Paulo State Registers Record Daily Covid-19 Cases

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The state of São Paulo registered a daily record of confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, July 22nd. According to data released by the Health Secretariat, there were 16,777 new infections in the past 24 hours, the highest figure since the start of quarantine four months ago.

The increase does not reflect the balance of June 19th, when over 19,000 new cases were recorded. At the time, the figure was the result of a malfunction in the Ministry of Health’s system that compiled the data which led to a backlog.

The state counts a total of 439,446 infections and 20,532 deaths from SARS-CoV-2. The ICU bed occupancy rate stands at 64 percent in Greater São Paulo and 66.5 percent throughout the state.

According to João Gabbardo, executive coordinator of the Covid-19 Contingency Center, despite the increase, if the numbers per epidemiological week are analyzed, the state experienced a 22 percent decrease.

“Between Sunday and Wednesday we saw 27,000 new cases. In the preceding week, there were 35,000 in the same four days. So this one-day high does not worry us. I think it must have been due to a backlog in state labs,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Epidemiological weeks are set by an international convention for the control and determination of data on an epidemic or pandemic. They are invariably counted between Sunday and Saturday. Brazil is currently in the 30th week as if Sunday, July 19th.

Of the total number of people diagnosed with the disease, the majority are found in the interior of the state, amounting to 170,515. The capital city São Paulo has accumulated 167,801 cases.

Quarantine

The state of São Paulo has been quarantined since March 24th. Two months ago an economic reopening process began, called the São Paulo Plan. The plan is implemented in phases ranging from red (1), the most restrictive, to blue (5), with the full reopening of activities.

The plan divides the state into 17 regions. It is updated every two weeks considering several factors, such as bed occupancy rate, variation in new cases, and new deaths in the period. The next update is due on Friday, July 24th.

A phase change is expected in a number of regions, such as the capital city of São Paulo. When the city was classified in the yellow phase (3), the ICU bed occupancy rate stood at 67 percent. Last Wednesday the rate was down to 64 percent.

Should it progress to the green phase (4), local commerce and shopping malls could open at 60 percent capacity. In the yellow phase, the maximum capacity is 40 percent.

Source: Exame

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