Coronavirus in Manaus: the health system has collapsed, there are no ventilators and newborns are transferred

In the middle of a scene exasperating, Brazilian health authorities have started to organize transfers of tens premature babies hospitalized in the city of Manaus to other states before the collapse hospitable and the lack of bottles of oxygen for a push back coronavirus.

Newborns will travel with their mothers to the states of Maranhao, Paraná, Minas Gerais and San Pablo, where they will be hospitalized again. With them, 235 other patients.

// The Aerolineas Argentinas flight arrived with the second batch of Russian vaccines

According to the Ministry of Health, the state capital of Amazonas only obtained oxygen cylinders for children for a period of 48 hours. However, the main difficulty is to obtain regular orders of this gas to the Amazon because of its difficulty for the transport.

Oxygen cylinders are vital for the treatment of the most severe Covid-19 patients, and the shortage of this has triggered the chaos in the region where they died on Friday 113 people by disease.

The federal government and regional officials, like that of São Paulo, organize the sending of aid to Manaus, which imposed a ten day curfew to try to contain the spread of the pandemic.

For its part, Venezuela announced a first loading of two trucks with oxygen cylinders, which will be followed by at least one more with used containers to fill in Brazil.

Chancellor of the Chavista regime Jorge Arreaza said in an interview with CNN Brazil that there is no decision as to whether it will be a donation or a type of consideration, but that “the important thing” is that the oxygen arrives.

Arreaza regretted that the diplomatic problems between the two countries difficulties send help. Although at the same time he asks that the Venezuelan collaboration “serve as a reflection for the Brazilian authorities” to resume relations which “allow mutual collaboration between brothers”.

This Venezuelan offer was appreciated by the former Brazilian president Lula da Silva, who in his Twitter profile described the situation in Manaus as “a human tragedy unprecedented in its history”.

Home death certificates

Over a thousand people were buried during the last week in Manaus, where the death of their own houses it also began to develop. Meanwhile, families line up to get a certificate that allows them to be buried.

To help cope a little, a team of obituaries and pathology technicians visit every day anytime from the city the houses where deaths have been recorded due to symptoms of coronavirus in accelerate the death certificate.

“This week there has been a huge increase in home deaths. What was done in a month is now done in one week”, assured Arlindo França, director of the Center for issuing death certificates (Cedo for its acronym in Portuguese) of the Municipal Secretariat of Health.

// He has coronavirus, he isolated himself and his father left him food with the most tender messages

Although deaths are recorded throughout the city, a good part of the cases occur in families of few resources who live in precarious conditions and have only the public health system to which they They cannot access it because of the crisis.