Covid-19 units in all but two of Brazil’s 27 states are at or above 80% capacity, according to the latest reports. In Rio Grande do Sul state there are no intensive care beds available at all.
The warning came as the country registered its highest daily death toll yet with 2,841 dying within 24 hours. The analysis by researchers suggests it’s the biggest collapse of the hospital and health service in Brazil’s history. Health officials in Brazil’s most populous state, São Paulo, which on Tuesday also registered a record daily death toll, have called on the new health minister to consider imposing a national lockdown. The health minister is the fourth person to hold the position since the pandemic began.
President Bolsonaro has consistently played down the dangers of the pandemic and opposed quarantine measures introduced by state governors, arguing that the collateral damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the virus itself.
Brazil has the second highest number of infections and deaths in the world, behind the US. In total, the country has registered more than 11.6 million infections and 282,000 deaths since the pandemic began. The latest surge in cases has been attributed to the spread of highly contagious variants of the virus. On Wednesday, the country recorded 79,876 new cases, the third highest number in a single day. The total number of Covid-related deaths reached 270,656, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.
This means Brazil has a rate of 128 deaths per 100,000 population – 11th highest amongst 20 of the worst affected countries in the world. The highest rates are in the Czech Republic with 208 deaths per 100,000 people and the UK with 188 deaths per 100,000 people, Johns Hopkin’s figures suggest.
The government has also faced criticism for the slow rollout of vaccines. It is currently distributing the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Chinese-developed CoronaVac and has placed orders for the Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Russian Sputnik V vaccines. So far about 4.6% of the population have received at least one dose.
Experts have described the situation as the worst moment of the pandemic in Brazil. Across Brazil, intensive care units (ICU) are at more than 80% capacity and in 15 state capitals, ICUs are at more than 90% capacity, including in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Reports say the capital, Brasilia, has now reached full ICU capacity, while two cities – Porto Alegre and Campo Grande – have exceeded capacity. Thesefigures point to the overload and even collapse of the health system.
Experts also believe that if the population, which feels abandoned by the federal government, isn’t vaccinated soon, a massive tragedy will happen.