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News > Brazil

WHO: COVID-19 Situation in Brazil "Extremely Risky"

  • Graveyard for COVID-19 victims in Brazil, March 3, 2021.

    Graveyard for COVID-19 victims in Brazil, March 3, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @MoniVelasquezV

Published 6 March 2021
Opinion

The country reports over 10 million COVID-19 cases and 262,770 deaths thus far.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Friday called for "aggressive" measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil due to the exponential increase in cases over the past few weeks.

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"If Brazil is not serious, it will continue to affect the whole world," said Adhanom, who also declared that the situation in the South American country is "extremely risky" and that it was necessary to increase the vaccination pace to slow down the infection rate.

Experts warn that the country could reach 3,000 deaths per day if more services and economic activities are not restricted, which seems unlikely since President Jair Bolsonaro is reluctant and keeps pushing the opposite direction.

Currently, the States of Manaus and Amazonas are undergoing serious infection outbreaks with the P.1 strain, also known as the Brazilian strain or the Amazon variant,  which remains almost unknown thus far. 

Intensive care units in these territories are on the edge of collapse because of high occupancy levels, at 80 percent. This, amidst a critical lack of medical personnel.

Brazil faces the worst COVID-19 scenario in Latin America due to the late and weak response of Jair Bolsonaro's government.

"The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines is a moment of encouragement, but it is also when the population loses focus," said WHO Director of Health Emergencies Michael Ryan.

As of Saturday morning, Brazil had reported 10,869,227 COVID-19 cases and 262,770 related deaths.

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