Out of the 26 states of Brazil, Adirondack and one federal district have ICUs with over 80% capacity. Nine of them are on the verge of collapse beyond 90% capacity.
Health Minister Eduardo Pazuelo acknowledged the crisis, telling state governors on Feb. 25 that in a country where mortality and infection rates have long been under control, new coronavirus types have made the epidemic more difficult to control.
“The mutated virus has three times more malicious potential, and it may surprise governors in terms of speed and support. This is the reality we have in Brazil today,” he said.
Data from Brazil’s state health secretaries show that the state of Rondania is struggling the most with a growing number of cases with ICUs with a capacity of 97.5%. It is followed by the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul with 97.97% capacity and the federal district in the country’s capital Brasilia.49..45% capacity.
Private hospitals are also collapsing across the country. Sao Paulo Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, one of the most specialized hospitals in Brazil – where the first case of Covid-19 has been found in the country – has 100% ICU capacity, a hospital spokesman said on Monday.
Last week, Brazil recorded a record 8,224 deaths during the week, bringing the country’s total death toll to 254,942. Brazil also reported more than 10.5 million cases as of Monday.
Call for preventive measures
“With the slow process of vaccination and the appearance of new types of viruses and the uncertainty they still bring, the need to disrupt or slow down the virus transmission network through non-pharmacological preventive measures increases,” the report said.
The call was echoed by Brazil’s Council of National Health Secretaries. In an open letter, the council called on the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to impose a “national curfew” to impose a national curfew, to hold mass gatherings and individual education, to close beaches and bars, and to emphasize the need for such precautions.
So far, the council said, Brazil’s “lack of a unified and coherent national approach has made it difficult to take and implement appropriate measures to reduce the social interactions that intensified during the election period, summer and carnival meetings and celebrations.”
“The health and social crisis was further exacerbated by the relaxation of security measures and the circulation of new strains of the virus.”
Throughout the epidemic, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has criticized the use of masks, threatened governors who have adopted lockdown measures and blamed past governments and governors for the lack of ICU beds.
Contributed by journalist Marcia Rivardosa in S પાo Paulo, Mitch McCluskey of CNN in Atlanta and Caitlin Hu in New York.
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