COVID-19 deaths in Brazil are on their way to the worst of the American wave

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The brutal increase in deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil will soon exceed the worst generation period in the United States, scientists predict, with fatalities rising above 4,000 for the first time in a day on Tuesday. that the outbreak overflows the hospitals.

The overall death toll in Brazil only tracks the U.S. outbreak, with about 337,000 deaths, according to Health Ministry data, compared to more than 555,000 deaths in the United States.

But with the Brazilian health care system at the breaking point, the country could surpass the total death toll in the U.S., despite having a two-thirds population of the U.S. population, two experts told Reuters.

“It is a nuclear reactor that has caused a chain reaction and is out of control. It’s a biological Fukushima, ”said Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian doctor and professor at Duke University who is closely monitoring the virus.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health reported 4,195 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, well above the country’s previous single-day record. Brazil has set daily death records every week since late February, as a more contagious local variant and meager social distancing efforts fuel an uncontrolled outbreak.

Undertakers wearing protective clothing handle bags with bones during exhumations to make room for cement graves, as new burials, except private tanks and children, are suspended in the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery amid the explosion of the COVID-19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Undertakers wearing protective clothing handle bags with bones during exhumations to make room for cement graves, as new burials, except private tanks and children, are suspended in the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery amid the explosion of COVID-19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
REUTERS

With massive vaccines reducing the U.S. outbreak, Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic, contributing approximately one in four deaths a day worldwide, according to a Reuters analysis.

President Jair Bolsonaro has rejected protection against wearing masks and blockades that public health experts consider the best way to slow down virus transmission.

Last year the country dragged its feet as the world rushed to secure vaccines, which slowed the launch of a national vaccination program.

Despite the recent increase, Brazilian officials insist the country may soon return to something that resembles the usual business.

People are waiting to board a train at Luz station, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
People are waiting to board a train at Luz station, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
REUTERS

“We believe that probably in two, three months Brazil could return to business,” Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said during an online event on Tuesday. “Of course, economic activity is likely to go down, but it will be much, much less than what we suffered last year … and much, much shorter.”

Bolsonaro has responded to growing political pressure with a dramatic shake-up of half a dozen ministries, placing loyalists in key roles ahead of what could be a tough re-election campaign next year against his political enemy.

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