Brazil: Contagion Toll Would Be Higher Than Official

A Federal University of Pelotas study, carried out from June 21st to 24th, found that contagion toll in Brazil would be higher than official numbers, taking into consideration the nation’s high rate of non-reported cases.

RELATED:

Brazil: Sao Paulo Expects up to 8,000 Deaths in July

A study, conducted at the Federal University of Pelotas from June 21st to 24th, found that contagion toll would be higher than official numbers, taking into consideration the nation’s high rate of underreported cases.

The study was commissioned by the Health Ministry and was carried in three stages (second half of May, the first half of June, and the second half of June).

It was found that that 3.8 percent of people tested had antibodies. This means they already had the virus or had come into contact with it at that moment.

On this line, the analysis showed that the number of people infected increased alarmingly by 23 percent between the second and third stages, since in the first one the percentage was 1.9, about 4 million nationwide.

Taking into account Brazil’s population, this sample percentage would cause an estimated total of 8 million people infected nationwide, something that exceeds enormously the official figures, set in 1,502,424 so far.

Socioeconomic differences also showed a watershed in infection rates, as poor, black, and indigenous communities are more at risk of contagion.

"The trend is that the number of people with antibodies increases as the socioeconomic level decreases. Among the richest 20 percent, the percentage of those infected was 1.8, and among the poorest 20 percent, it was 4.1,” the study revealed.

Currently, the South American nation is one of the pandemic hotspots. Until this day, its death toll was 62,045, only surpassed by U.S figures.