Brazil passes half of a million Covid-19 deaths
20 June, 2021
Brazil's death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday as specialists warn that the world's second-deadliest outbreak may worsen due to delayed vaccinations and the government's refusal to back social distancing measures.
Only 11 per cent of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated and epidemiologists warn that deaths will continue to mount regardless if immunisations gain steam.
Brazil has registered 500,800 deaths from 17,883,750 confirmed Covid-19 cases, according to Health Ministry data on Saturday, the worst official death toll beyond your United States. In the last week, Brazil has averaged 2,000 deaths per day.
Covid-19 continues to devastate countries around the region with the Pan American Health Organisation (Paho) reporting 1.1 million new cases of Covid-19 and 31,000 deaths in the Americas the other day.
Experts see the toll in Brazil, already the highest in Latin America, climbing far higher.
"I think we will reach 700,000 or 800,000 deaths before we reach see the ramifications of vaccination," said Gonzalo Vecina, former head of Brazilian health regulator Anvisa.
"We are exceptional arrival of the new variants and the Indian variant will send us for a loop."
Mr Vecina criticised far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic, including the insufficient a coordinated national response and his skepticism toward vaccines, lockdowns and mask-wearing requirements, which he has sought to loosen.
A large number of Brazilians protested against Mr Bolsonaro's management of the outbreak in nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, blaming the administration for the high death toll.
Raphael Guimaraes, a researcher at Brazilian biomedical centre Fiocruz, said delays in the vaccination program in Latin America's most populous nation meant its full effects wouldn't normally be felt until September or later.
Mr Guimaraes warned that Brazil could revisit scenes from the worst of its March-April peak, when the united states averaged 3,000 deaths per day.
"We are still in an extremely critical situation, with high transmission rates and hospital bed occupancy that's still critical in lots of places," he said.
This week, new confirmed cases in Brazil accelerated to a lot more than 70,000 per day typically, edging past India for the most in the world.
Vaccination will be crucial in beating the virus in Brazil, because the country has didn't reach a consensus on social distancing and masks, said Ester Sabino, an epidemiologist at the University of Sao Paulo.
"We should increase vaccination rapidly," she said.
However, evidence from neighbouring Chile, which like Brazil has relied overwhelming on a vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, suggests it can be months before mass immunisation will effectively curb transmission.
Nearly half of Chileans have already been vaccinated, but their capital Santiago just went back into lockdown as cases surged again to near peak levels.
Brazil should inoculate some 80 million people to reach Chile's current per capita vaccination levels.
That will require a more consistent supply of vaccines and ingredients in Brazil, which were spotty in recent months, as imports from China were delayed after Mr Bolsonaro antagonised Beijing with comments regarded as anti-Chinese.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com