PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil: Brazil is in the midst of a battle against the new Covid-19 variant of the Amazon that threatens to send shock waves around the world.
Currently, with less than 3% of the world’s population, Brazil accounts for nearly a third of the world’s daily deaths due to Covid-19, driven by the new variant. More than 300,000 have died, and daily deaths now exceed 3,000, a figure that only the US suffers, much more populated
“We’re in the trenches here, fighting a war,” said Andréia Cruz, a 42-year-old emergency nurse in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. In the last three weeks alone, the surrounding state of Rio Grande do Sul has seen nearly 5,000 people die from Covid-19, more than in the last three months last year.
The spread of the virus in Brazil threatens to turn this 213 million country into a global danger to public health. The so-called P.1 strain, present in more than 20 countries and identified in New York last week, is up to 2.2 times more contagious and up to 61% more capable of reinfecting people than previous versions of the coronavirus, according to a recent study.
P.1 is now responsible for most new infections in Brazil, with many doctors saying they see more young and otherwise healthy patients. About 30 percent of people who die from Covid-19 are now under 60, compared to an average of about 26 percent during Brazil’s previous peak between June and August, according to official figures analyzed by the Wall Street Journal.