Latin America Now Epicenter of Covid-19 Pandemic: Brazil Is Most Troubling Country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Latin America is the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and Brazil is the most troubling country,” said Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) executive director, in an Internet interview on Friday, May 22nd.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, with 1,188 new deaths from coronavirus in the 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday, May 20th and 21st, Brazil beat a new record of daily mortality and passed the 20,000 mark. It is the country with the third-most cases in the world, 310,087 confirmed by Thursday, behind only the US and Russia.

Estimates also released on Friday by the Imperial College London show that Brazil’s spread of the disease continues to increase. The basic reproductive ratio (Rt), an indicator of how many people each infected person transmits the coronavirus on average, was calculated at 1.3 (when it is above one, the transmission is uncontrolled).

The university’s epidemiology center, a reference in monitoring transmissible diseases, estimates that 6,980 deaths occurred this week, ranging from 5,850 to 8,070. The estimated figure is the highest among the 54 countries with active transmission (at least 100 deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic and at least ten deaths in the past two weeks).

The United Kingdom ranks second with 2,400 deaths per week, but with a contagion rate of 0.84, which shows the transmission is under control. The United States did not feature this week as it was the subject of a separate study, with comparisons between its States.

Referring to the pandemic situation in Brazil, Michael Ryan said that although the most significant number of cases is in São Paulo, the most critical scenario is in Amazonas, which has the highest number of cases in relation to the population.

The executive director mentioned Brazil’s approval of chloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19 and stressed that there is no evidence that the drug is effective in fighting the disease. The WHO favors the use of chloroquine only in clinical studies in hospitals and under medical supervision.

Answering a question about Brazil, WHO technical leader Maria van Kerkhove said that countries should be aware that there are vulnerable groups with less access to health care and less information and that governments need to ensure that everyone can be tested and treated should they be infected with the coronavirus.

Source: Folhapress