Brazil health collapse: São Paulo state evacuates COVID-19 patients due to lack of oxygen

The health authorities of the State of São Paulo have already started to evacuate patients affected by the coronavirus from the region given the risk of depletion of oxygen reserves after a drastic increase in consumption up to 16 times in some hospitals.

On the night of Friday to Saturday, ten patients were evacuated from the UPA Ermelino Matarazzo hospital, according to the São Paulo Municipal Health Secretariat.

“The problem is not the oxygen, but the logistical exhaustion of the delivery of the product which is the cause of the delay. In a hospital like this, the oxygen tank used to be filled once a week, but now three times a day is not enough. “, explained San Pablo City Secretary of Health Edson Aparecido.

For this reason, they are trying to concentrate COVID-19 patients in larger hospitals to ensure a constant supply of oxygen and have made sure that the supply is guaranteed.

The occupancy rate of ICU beds in São Paulo is 89%, with 1,230 beds occupied on Thursday.

Brazil, the global epicenter of the pandemic, on Saturday reported 2,438 new deaths associated with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is the fifth day in a row above 2,400 deaths, according to the government.

Since the start of the health crisis, Brazil has added 292,752 deaths linked to covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

In addition, Brazilian authorities reported 79,069 positives in the past 24 hours, which the total number of infected people amounts to 11,950,459 in this country of 212 million inhabitants.

Brazil is the second country with the most cases and deaths from coronary artery disease, only behind the United States, although in recent days it has positioned itself as the country with the worst daily numbers. Indeed, last Tuesday, the country reached a new daily maximum of deaths, or 2,841, and this Friday there was a record number of infected, with 90,570.

Despite the fact that on weekends, due to the decline in activity of public bodies, the statistics are generally lower, this Saturday this trend was broken and the number of deaths remained above 2,400 for the fifth consecutive day . On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, it even broke the 2,600 mark.

The explosion of infections has virtually defeated public health systems across the country, which have collapsed or are on the verge of collapse.

According to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading medical research center in Latin America, Brazil is experiencing “the greatest health and hospital collapse in its history”.

In 25 of the country’s 27 states, ICU occupancy rates are at or above 80%, with several exceeding 90%.

This second wave, aggravated by the circulation of more infectious variants, forced a good part of the regional and municipal governments of the country to toughen social distancing measures to curb the high number of infections.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign, which began in mid-January, is progressing slowly and only 5.5 percent of the 212 million Brazilians have received the first dose, and the second just 2 percent.

With information from EFE and EuropaPress

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