A total of 1,021 deaths have been reported in the state of Sao Paulo in the past 24 hours, the state health secretary said on Tuesday. This figure is the highest since the onset of the epidemic.
The worst day for the state in terms of the epidemic was seven days ago i.e. March 16, when 679 people died in 24 hours. In Sao Paulo, a total of 68,623 people lost their lives to Covid-19.
The health system is also on the verge of collapse, with intensive care unit beds in the state. with% is occupied. On Monday, 29,039 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized in Sઓo Paulo, 12,168 of whom were in intensive care unit beds. As of March 1, the number of patients admitted to the hospital was 15,977, which is almost half of the current number.
On Monday, the council of the Sao Paulo Municipal Health Secretariat warned that 54 cities had enough oxygen just for the rest of the week.
At a press conference the same day, Governor Joao Doria announced a partnership with a private beverage company to build an oxygen plant in Ribeirao Preto, one of the largest cities in the state of Sઓo Paulo.
In an interview with CNN’s Julia Chatterley on Monday, Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria called Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro a “psychotic leader” and criticized the president’s response to the Covid-19 epidemic.
On CNN’s first move, he said, “We are one of those tragic moments in history when millions of people pay a high price for being the nation’s favorite unprepared and psychiatric leader.”
Doria said most of the deaths caused by the virus in Brazil could have been avoided if Bolsonaro had “worked with the responsibility given to him by the position”. He added that Bolsonaro had made “unbelievable mistakes, the biggest of which was a political dispute with governors who are trying to protect the people.”
Some more background: Bolsonaro has repeatedly opposed lockdowns and restrictive measures and criticized governors and mayors for enforcement. He has also been seen greeting crowds of his supporters during the epidemic, without wearing a mask, and has advocated drugs such as hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus – a drug with no proven efficacy in fighting Covid-19.
Brazil now has more than 12 million cases of coronavirus in the country, according to health ministry figures.
CNN’s Julia Chatterley and Hira Humayun contributed to this post.
.
