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According to data from the Ministry of Health, Brazil thus registered 292,752 deaths related to covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, being one of the countries most affected by the disease worldwide.
Brazilian authorities also registered 79,069 new cases in the last 24 hours, adding a total of 11,950,459 infected in the country of 212 million inhabitants.
Brazil is the second country in the world with the most cases and deaths from coronavirus, only behind the United States, although in recent days it has positioned itself as the nation with the worst daily figures.
On Tuesday, the country reached a new daily maximum of deaths (2,841) and on Friday a record of infected (90,570).
Although the statistics are lower at the weekend due to the lower activity of public services, today the trend has reversed, keeping the number of deaths above 2,400 for the fifth consecutive day.
The explosion of infections is putting pressure on most public health systems, with many units on the brink of collapse.
According to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading medical research center in Latin America, Brazil is going through “the greatest health and hospital collapse in its history.”
In 25 of the 27 states in the country, occupancy rates in intensive care units are equal to or greater than 80%, with several over 90%.
This is the case of São Paulo, the richest and most populated state in the country and, initially, with the best health structure, which has about 12,000 patients with covid-19 in intensive care.
This second wave, aggravated by the circulation of more infectious variants, forced part of the country’s regional and municipal governments to tighten social distance measures to contain the high number of infections.
Today, the beaches of Rio de Janeiro woke up closed to the public, after the city authorities prohibited circulation in the sand, sea baths or sports activities.
Shortages of oxygen and drugs for more seriously diagnosed infected patients are also beginning to raise concern in some areas of the country.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), in an attempt to counteract these failures, has already eliminated the bureaucracies for the registration, distribution and import of medicines used in intensive care units.
In a statement released today, Anvisa announced that it authorized, on a temporary and exceptional basis, the use of industrial cylinders to inject medicinal gases and thus “increase the supply of oxygen” to hospitals.
At the same time, the vaccination campaign that began in mid-January continues at a very slow pace, with around 5.5% of the 212 million Brazilians already vaccinated with the first dose and 2% with the second.
