Ambulances full of breathless patients lined up in Brazil, while countries around the world set new records on Thursday for COVID-19 deaths and new coronavirus infections. The disease increased even in some countries that have controlled the virus.
In the United States, Detroit leaders began making a plan to knock on every door to convince people to get vaccinated.
This week, Brazil became the third country, after the United States and Peru, to report a 24-hour COVID-19 death toll that exceeded 4,000.. India reached a high point of nearly 127,000 new cases in 24 hours, and Iran set a new record for coronavirus infection for the third day in a row, reporting about 22,600 new cases.
In the state of Rio de Janeiro, emergency services have been under its greatest strain since the pandemic began, with ambulances transporting patients of all ages to crowded hospitals struggling to attend to everyone. Authorities say more than 90 percent of the state’s intensive care beds are taken by COVID-19 patients, and many cities report dying at home due to lack of available medical treatment.
“We are already living the third wave. We have three times as many calls, ”compared to previous waves, said Adriano Pereira, director of the mobile emergency care service at the Duque de Caxias, an impoverished city outside Rio.
The death toll in Brazil has risen from 340,000, the second highest total in the world behind the United States, where the deaths of nearly 560,000 people have been confirmed.
The 14-day daily moving average of COVID-19 in the state of Rio rose from 112 to 207 between March 1 and April 7, and some health analysts expected even worse days in the coming weeks. Many hospitals warn about the risk of oxygen and sedative shortages for intubation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to get vaccinated and wrote in a tweet: “Vaccination is one of the few ways to defeat the virus. If you are eligible for the vaccine, get the its balance soon “.
The United States has now vaccinated nearly 20% of its adult population and New Mexico became the first state to receive shots in the arms of 25% of its residents, milestones that are still a long way off for many affected countries.
In India, where 1.4 billion people live, only 11 million are fully vaccinated. In Brazil, less than 3% of the country’s 210 million people have received both doses, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.
South Korea reported 700 more cases, the highest daily jump since Jan. 5. Health authorities were expected to announce measures to bolster social distancing after a meeting on Friday.
In Thailand, which has reported only 95 deaths during the pandemic, health officials reported the country’s first local cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. The news comes at a time when only 1% of the population has been vaccinated and when Thais are preparing to celebrate the traditional Songkran New Year party next week, usually a period of widespread travel.
This variant is more contagious and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that it is now the most common variant. in the United States, raising concerns will cause infections and cause illness to more people.
Michigan has averaged more than 7,000 new cases a day, a figure that makes the state second in the nation behind New York. Michigan also has the highest number of new cases per capita, with 1 in 203 state residents diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 31 and April 7, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
In Detroit, which is about 80 percent black, officials said they plan to start visiting homes talk about the importance of protecting yourself from the virus with vaccines and how to sign up to receive vaccines.
“We’ll be knocking on every residential door in the city, making sure every Detroiter knows how to make an appointment,” Victoria Kovari, executive assistant to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, told The Detroit News.
Only 22% of Detroit residents have received at least one dose of vaccine compared to 38% of all of Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Other midwestern states have seen worrying signs in recent days, including a school district in Iowa where 127 students and five staff members tested positive for the coronavirus or are thought to be positive.
In Massachusetts, where the seven-day average of new cases a day has risen to more than 2,100 new cases a day, the Massachusetts Public Health Association called on Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to reinstate public health measures. The group urged Baker to limit indoor dining capacity and other indoor activities, saying increased cases and hospitalizations followed Baker’s decision to relax those restrictions.
“We’re currently in a race between vaccines and variants,” Carlene Pavlos, the group’s executive director, said Thursday. “Without these public health measures, even more innocent lives will be unnecessarily lost.”
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Associated Press writers Felipe Dana in Rio de Janeiro, Mauricio Savarese in São Paulo and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.