Brazil expects up to 3,000 daily deaths in March, admits Ministry of Health

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health’s leadership expects Brazil to experience the worst moment of the pandemic in the coming two weeks.

Minister Eduardo Pazuello’s team expects an explosion in cases and fatalities in the period, with deaths passing the 3,000 daily mark.

The forecast is the outcome of a perfect storm: the spread of the virus across the country, driven by the end-of-year and Carnaval crowds; the population’s difficulty to remain in social isolation; the circulation of new, more contagious variants with a high viral load; the imminent collapse of hospital systems in several states simultaneously; and the shortage of vaccines to immunize Brazilians.

The portfolio’s attention is focused mainly on the South region. In Rio Grande do Sul, for instance, ICU bed occupancy has been close to or over 100% throughout the week. In the North region there are concerns over the low availability of beds, although the number of cases is lower.

Alerts have also been raised about the situation in the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.