Brazil Records 610 New Coronavirus Deaths, Total Reaches 9,146 (May 7th)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Data from the Ministry of Health on Thursday, May 7th, show that Brazil has recorded 610 new deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. It is the third consecutive day with more than 600 new deaths – 615 on the preceding day, the highest number to date, and 600 on Tuesday, May 5th.

This brings to 9,146 the number of confirmed novel coronavirus deaths in Brazil. The country has also recorded 9,888 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and has a current total of 135,106.

On Wednesday, May 6th, Brazil surpassed Belgium and became the country with the sixth-most deaths in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which monitors pandemic data. The top five countries with the most deaths are the United States (75,447), the United Kingdom (30,689), Italy (29,958), Spain (26,070), and France (25,990).

According to experts, the real numbers in Brazil should be higher, since there is a low supply of tests in the country and underreporting. Currently, the country has a total of 1,782 deaths under investigation.

Nevertheless, the average of new confirmed deaths each day is growing. Last week, the daily average stood at around 429, while the over preceding week it was approximately 238.

Of the 610 new confirmed deaths on Thursday, 227 occurred over the past three days, and the others over preceding days, which highlights the delay in diagnosing in the country.

Despite pointing out that part of the deaths occurred in the previous days, and were only confirmed on the same date, representatives of the Ministry of Health concede that there is an upward trend in the curve.

Despite the consistent rise in deaths, President Jair Bolsonaro has again advocated opening up trade and reducing traffic restriction measures.

“The best measure is to get out of the situation we are in as soon as possible,” he said outside the Alvorada Palace. “Trade has to be opened, the people have to go back to work. I’ve been talking about this for 60 days and I’m called a butcher, they say I’m worried about the economy and that I don’t care about life, that the economy recovers and life doesn’t,” he said. “There comes a point when you won’t recover the economy and without the economy your life will also fall through”.

Since there is no vaccine or medicine against Covid-19, social isolation is pointed out worldwide as the most effective measure to save lives. However, the President said the measure does not work. “This issue of staying at home, and ‘don’t go out’, it’s not working, it’s killing business.”

Bolsonaro was critical of governors who ordered the closure of businesses, such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. On Thursday, he unexpectedly visited the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to pressure for the reopening.

The Supreme Court has ruled that it was up to the states and municipalities to make reopening decisions – the federal government appealed the decision. But in commenting on the Court’s decision that deferred the opening of trade, Bolsonaro this time advocated the governors’ autonomy.

“If he is the governor, he has to decide on matters of the Executive. Each power in its rightful place,” he said. Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Nelson Teich, has advocated that regional scenarios be analyzed, not a ”Brazilian average”.

In this context, São Paulo continues to be the state with the most cases and deaths from coronavirus. In all, there are 39,928 records of the disease, with 3,206 deaths. The spread occurs amidst the difficulty the state faces in maintaining social isolation rates.

Following São Paulo, the state with the highest number of cases is Rio de Janeiro, with 14,156 cases and 1,394 deaths and Ceará, with 13,888 cases and 903 deaths.

However, the ranking changes when Covid-19 incidence data are analyzed, an indicator that covers the total number of cases by the affected population.

The highest incidence is recorded in Amapá, with 2,600 cases per million inhabitants. Next is Amazonas, one of the first states to report a collapse in the health network, with 2,437 cases per million people.

Roraima, Ceará, Pernambuco, Acre and Espírito Santo complete the list of greatest percentage incidence, followed by São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Data from the Ministry of Health also point to an estimate that the country has at least 55,350 people who have recovered from Covid-19. Another 70,160 are still being monitored.

Source: Folhapress