Covid-19: Brazil’s Lethality Rate Halves in Three Months

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The lethality rate of Covid-19 in Brazil dropped from 6.9 percent on May 3rd to 3.4 percent on Monday, August 3rd. In recent months, the rate had already been steadily declining, with 5.5 percent on June 3rd and 4.1 percent on July 3rd. The factors for this decline include increased testing and improved treatment capacity for the most critical cases.

According to information from Our World in Data, an initiative connected with Oxford University, the Brazilian index is better than the world index, which currently stands at 3.8 percent, and that of European countries such as Germany (4.3 percent), Sweden (7.1 percent), Italy (14.2 percent), and Spain (9.9 percent). On the other hand, it is higher than that in India (2.1 percent) and the United States (3.3 percent), and far higher than New Zealand (1.9 percent).

The rate is based on the number of deaths compared to the number of confirmed cases of infection with the novel coronavirus. For the new estimate, the NGO also considers underreported cases due to the high number of asymptomatic people or those with only mild symptoms of the disease who are not diagnosed.

However, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) believes in a global figure even lower than the official 3.8 percent: 0.6 percent. Despite the significant progress in recent months, the figure is still considered “very high”. By way of comparison, the lethality rate of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 was 0.01 percent.

“The coronavirus is deadlier and this points to the need to prevent contamination. It is the main one. While the symptoms in some are not severe, the transmission of the disease to others must be prevented. It is very important to have joint solidarity,” said Michael Ryan, W.H.O. Executive Director for Emergencies.

Currently, Brazil counts 2,750,153 cases and 94,660 deaths from the disease. On Monday, August 3rd, the rolling average of new notifications of the disease was 43,968.3 and that of new deaths was 1,006. The weekly rolling average is based on the sum of the number of cases and deaths over the past seven days, divided by seven, the number of days in the period considered – which allows for a better assessment by eliminating daily fluctuations in the record and data sent by public health bodies, an issue that occurs mainly on weekends.

Source: EFE