Concern in Brazil: Deaths of pregnant women on the rise

The number of deaths from the coronavirus pregnant women and those who have recently given birth have more than doubled this year compared to the weekly average of the previous year, According to a report by the Brazilian Obstetric Observatory Covid-19, published today on the information portal Globo G1.

The report noted that last year, since the start of the pandemic, there was 449 deaths due to covid-19 in this vulnerable population, with a weekly average of 10.4. To date, in 2021, 289 deaths have been recorded among pregnant women and pure women, which represents a weekly average of 22.22.

The Observatory also pointed out that the death rate had increased so far this year by 61.6% among the Brazilian population in general, but that the increase was much more pronounced in pregnant and purple women: 145.4%.

Despite the enormous asymmetry, the report states that The deaths of this vulnerable part of the population represent only 0.23% of the deaths this year due to the pandemic, according to official data from the Ministry of Health.

Among the most common causes of death in this vulnerable group, according to the Observatory’s survey, are lack of access to intensive care beds – this crucial service has collapsed in most states of the country – and supplies to intubate, a problem that has already become massive in wealthy cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

In the midst of this increasingly dramatic context, yesterday the Ministry of Health of the Government of Jair Bolsonaro He had asked women not to get pregnant for the moment to avoid the risks in the midst of a pandemic.

At a press conference, the primary care secretary of the health portfolio, Raphael Camara, asked “If possible, delay the pregnancy a bit” to have a “calmer” pregnancy.

According to Camara, the newer variants of covid-19 will be “more aggressive” in pregnant women, although he admitted that there are no national or international studies to prove it.

“Before, gravity was linked to the end of the pregnancy, but now a more serious development is observed in the second trimester and even in the first trimester “he explained, quoted by the Sputnik news agency.