The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced Thursday night that the country has exceeded 2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus with more than 76,000 deaths.
The country first reported coronavirus cases in May, approximately five months after the first reported case in the United States. Within three months of Brazil’s first case, they have become the world’s second largest population by the number of coronavirus cases, behind the US, which has reported more than 3.5 million cases.
Brazil registered 45,403 new cases of COVID-19 and 1,322 new deaths on Thursday.
President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus for the second time this week, after his first announcement that it was positive for COVID-19 on July 7.
THE PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL BOLSONARO RECEIVES A NEW POSITIVE RESULT OF THE CORONAVIRUS TEST
Wednesday marked the second month that Brazil has been left without a health minister after the two prime ministers left office after disagreements with Bolsonaro and how the coronavirus pandemic should be managed.
Former Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned after serving just one month on the job, due to fundamental disagreements over social distancing orders and the promotion of hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly promoted the drug hydroxychloroquine, despite little scientific evidence that it has any effect in the fight against the coronavirus. The president turned to social media this week to say he believes the drug has been helping him.
“From the beginning I was medicated with hydroxychloroquine, with the recommendation of a doctor. I felt better the next day, “Bolsonaro said on social media Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.” Whether it’s a coincidence or not … it worked for me. “
BRAZILIAN BOLSONARO PUBLISHES VIDEO OF THE SAME TAKING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUSES
Teich’s predecessor Luiz Henrique was reportedly fired from the post of health minister after disagreeing with Bolsonaro about encouraging hydroxychloroquine prescriptions to fight the coronavirus.
Army General Eduardo Pazuello currently serves as acting health minister, reportedly without training in the health field.
Bolsonaro repeatedly downplayed the severity of the coronavirus, calling it a “little flu” from the start and telling reporters in June that he “regretted”[ed] all dead but it is everyone’s destiny. “
He was seen mingling in crowds without wearing a mask and pushed for social distancing regulations to be lifted, saying the repercussions for the economy outweighed the threat of the virus, despite warnings from his Health Ministry.
While coronavirus cases are now slowing down in city centers, Brazil is now seeing spikes in rural communities. Health experts blame Bolsonaro’s lack of response and the absence of a coordinated response at the national level.
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Experts also believe that the number of reported cases does not reach the reality of Brazil, due to the lack of evidence.
“The virus would have been difficult to stop anyway. But this milestone of 2 million cases, which is greatly underestimated, shows that this could have been different, “Dr. Adriano Massuda, a health official and professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo, told The Associated Press .
“There is no national strategy for testing, there are no top-down measures … very little effort to improve basic care, so we found severe cases before they became too severe, with no follow-up.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
