RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – While governors across virtually all of Brazil have relaxed isolation rules, the country has recorded the world’s highest average number of deaths from the novel coronavirus over the past seven days.
As a result, it has left behind the United States and the United Kingdom, countries that have recorded the highest absolute numbers of deaths up to now.
Over the past week, Brazil recorded 7,197 deaths from Covid-19, an average of 1,028 per day, according to figures from the World Health Organization (W.H.O.).
The USA, which tops the list of deaths by the pandemic, recorded 5,762 deaths in the same period, an average of 823 per day. The United Kingdom ranked second on the cumulative list of deaths, recorded 1,552 deaths over the past seven days, an average of 221 per day.
Brazil also surpassed countries where the disease curve is still rising, such as Mexico, which recorded 3,886 deaths from Covid-19 over the past week, an average of 555 per day.
According to experts, the high number of deaths is a consequence of the absence of national coordination of policies to fight the pandemic, and the expected trend is for the picture to worsen after the flexibilizations announced by governors and advocated by President Jair Bolsonaro.
“In fact, this result is the consequence of poor management of the pandemic in the country. Brazil started off well with Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta (dismissed by Bolsonaro in April), but now it’s making a terrible mistake by relaxing the distancing measures just as it’s approaching the peak of the curve,” said epidemiologist Pedro Hallal, dean of the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel).
He says surveys show that over the past week Brazil has taken the top global position not only in absolute numbers but also in the average death rate in terms of population.
According to Raul Guimarães, professor of Health Geography at the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil is at odds with the rest of the world by easing isolation measures while the disease continues to grow in several regions of the country.
“Brazil has entered a vicious circle. It feels like we are stepping on quicksand,” Guimarães says. In his opinion, the consequence should be the extension of the crisis in the country, along with an increase in the number of victims.
“According to our estimates in May, with the isolation rates still high, the state of São Paulo would reach the peak at the end of June and start to drop in August, but what we are now witnessing is that it will extend further. We haven’t recalculated it yet, but the crisis should last until October or November,” said Guimarães, who classified the country’s quarantine as “sloppy”.
Guimarães said the current rate of spread of the disease, coupled with the relaxation of distancing measures in several cities, could lead to the number of deaths doubling by the end of July: “This is exponential. And the worst thing is that not only has the quarantine been poorly enforced, but the return is also poorly enforced, unmonitored. The crisis will drag on for months,” he said.
The mayor of São Paulo, Bruno Covas, announced the reopening of street trade as of Wednesday, June 10th, nine days after Governor João Doria announced the São Paulo Plan, for a gradual resumption of economic activities according to each state region.
In cities that have reopened street trade, such as Campinas, massive crowds have been seen in the shopping areas, with no chance of keeping the minimum distance to prevent further contagion.
Bolsonaro downplays pandemic and tries to conceal numbers
On another front, Bolsonaro, after trying to conceal the pandemic numbers, took to social media to exploit an ambiguous W.H.O. statement on Monday about the potential for the novel coronavirus not to spread among infected but asymptomatic individuals.
However, on Tuesday, the W.H.O. backtracked and reported that there is no evidence that individuals with antibodies do not spread the disease. Since March, Bolsonaro has been downplaying the pandemic: he has already called Covid-19 a minor “flu”; he attends demonstrations in support of the government, against medical advice; he advocates an end to social isolation; and has recommended the use of chloroquine for patients, although there is no scientific evidence of the drug’s efficacy.
Source: Estadão Conteúdo