Brazil recorded more than 2,600 deaths from COVID-19 for third day in a row

Brazil, the current global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, this Thursday recorded more than 2,600 deaths from the coronavirus for the third day in a row and reached a record average of 2,087 deaths per day over the past week. In total, the South American country has accumulated 287,499 deaths since the start of the health crisis.

According to the bulletin published this Thursday by the Ministry of Health, 2,724 new deaths have occurred in the past 24 hours, a figure that was only surpassed by the record 2,841 deaths last Tuesday.

Thursday’s bulletin reported 86,982 new infections, third highest number of cases in a single day after the record 90,303 infections on Thursday and the 87,840 reported on January 7.

In this way, Brazil is now accumulating 11,780,820 positive cases and the average number of infections during the week reached 71,872 per day, a new record.

The figures confirm Brazil as the new global epicenter of the pandemic and as the second country with the most deaths and infections in the world, surpassed only by the United States.

They also confirm that the country is experiencing a second wave of a much more virulent and deadly pandemic, in part caused by the circulation of new strains of the virus, among which the so-called Brazilian variant stands out. which arose in the Amazon and is considered three times more contagious than the original.

According to the portfolio balance, the mortality rate from covid remained at 2.4%, the mortality rate rose to 136.8 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and the incidence rate was 5,606 infected in the same proportion population.

Most of the country is close to health collapse

The rise in infections has left most of Brazil on the verge of hospital collapse due to a lack of places in intensive care units (ICUs) for the most seriously ill.

According to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Brazil is experiencing “the greatest health and hospital collapse in its history” Due to the fact that in 25 of the 27 states of the country, the occupancy rates of intensive care units are at or above 80%, and in 19 capitals, which are the ones with the largest population, these specialized units exceeded 90 % of their capacity.

Fear of a total health collapse has led the mayor of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, to announce new, tougher social distancing measures, and that of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city, to anticipate this. In the coming years. days it will increase the degree of its confinement.

The mayor of San Pablo, Bruno Covas, announced the advancement of five public holidays, three of which correspond to 2022, in order to further reduce mobility in the capital of São Paulo in the last week of March and the first week of April .

Among the victims of the disease this Thursday stands out the senator Sergio Olímpio Gomes, better known as Major Olimpio and who was an important ally of President Jair Bolsonaro during his first year in office. Gomes was the third Brazilian senator to succumb to the disease.

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