Brazil exceeds 380,000 deaths from Covid-19, with 3,472 in the last day (April 21)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil registered on Wednesday another 3,472 deaths related to covid-19 and surpassed 380,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Government, which again delayed the schedule of the vaccination campaign for priority groups.

The Ministry of Health reported in its daily bulletin 79,719 new positives for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected people to 14,122,795 in almost 14 months.

Brazil is the country with the second-highest number of covid-19-related deaths, with 381,475, second only to the United States, and the third-highest number of infections, after the USA and India.

The second wave of the pandemic, aggravated by the circulation of new, more infectious variants of the virus, has brought the Brazilian public health system to the brink of collapse. Most of the intensive care units overflow, and a shortage of drugs keeps critically ill patients intubated.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign is progressing little by little in this country of 212 million inhabitants.

The immunization campaign began on January 17, and to date, around 13% of the population has received the first dose, and only 5% have received the full course.

Brazil’s Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, said at a press conference held on Wednesday, a public holiday in Brazil, that the vaccination schedule is subject to deliveries from providers.

In this sense, he affirmed that the international platform Covax “has not delivered” on time “what was agreed”, among other logistic problems that have delayed the arrival of raw materials to manufacture vials in the country.

“The quantity of vaccines depends on the arrival of inputs,” he asserted.

For all these reasons, the Minister assured that the vaccination of priority groups, which the Government estimates to include some 77.2 million people, is expected to be completed in September.

This new deadline represents a delay with respect to the initial plan presented by the Government, which indicated that priority groups, including the elderly, the chronically ill, indigenous people, and health and security professionals, among others, would be immunized by June.

Queiroga also defended the Government’s actions to alleviate the shortage of drugs in the ucis in some country regions.

He pointed out that they have negotiated with the Pan American Health Organization (OPAS) to acquire medicines that make up the so-called ‘intubation kit.’ However, the arrival of these will take “about 40 days”.

For this reason, an international auction will be held, without price-fixing, to “obtain these supplies in the short term.”

The minister also thanked the donations from some countries, among which he mentioned Spain and private companies.

“In my opinion, we are very close to overcoming the most critical phase in relation to the intubation kit (shortage) and the oxygen issue,” he said.