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RIO – The coronavirus already caused illness and death in Brazil at the end of January, more than a month before the official date of registration of the first case, February 26, in São Paulo. The first person to die of Covid-19 in Brazil died in Rio de Janeiro, in the fourth epidemiological week, between January 19 and 25. And the local or community transmission was already underway in São Paulo, on February 4, long before March 13, the date of official records.
Special: The stories behind the Covid-19 numbers
The data on the previous transmission of Covid-19 in Brazil comes from a study led by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC / Fiocruz). On February 26, when the first case was announced, the coronavirus had been circulating in the country for a month, the investigation highlights, the first to indicate the period of the beginning of transmission in Brazil.
The study was carried out using an innovative statistical inference methodology, which uses death records as a basis, in addition to case analyzes of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Scientists draw attention to the silent spread of Covid-19 and the need for molecular surveillance (PCR testing of suspected cases) of respiratory viruses. Without it, we will be forever hostages to the coronavirus, warns the research coordinator, Gonzalo Bello, of the IOC / Fiocruz Laboratory of AIDS and Molecular Immunology.
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