Brazil recorded a new record of new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, with 137,103 cases being announced yesterday Tuesday by the Ministry of Health.
At the same time, another 351 deaths were reported due to complications of the disease caused by the virus, in other words the heaviest death toll in a day since November 17.
The giant country of 213 million people, which mourns the second heaviest pandemic death toll in the world behind the US in absolute terms, counts so far 621,517 deaths due to COVID-19 out of a total of 23,211,894 SARS-CoV-2 infections .
An outbreak was reported in January, due to the end-of-year holidays and the arrival of the more contagious Omicron variant.
Brazil thus seems to be experiencing, with some delay, the escalation of the crisis in Europe and North America.
The previous record number of cases in the huge Latin American country was recorded on June 23 and was 115,228.
The rolling weekly average of infections confirmed on a daily basis was at 83,204 last night.
By comparison, at the end of last year it did not exceed 8,000.
The “peak” of the current new wave “is expected to be recorded in February and then the situation is then expected to stabilize again,” said Ethel Masiel, an epidemiologist at the Federal University of Espresso, in a statement to AFP.
“But we do not yet know what the impact of the carnival will be,” she warned in late February.
Carnivals have been canceled in most Brazilian metropolises, but uncertainty remains as to whether the traditional parades of the samba schools in Rio will take place.
Two weeks of “crucial”
Across the country, Brazilians are forced to stand in sometimes huge queues to be tested, in laboratories or in pharmacies. The results in some cases come out only four days later.
Airlines have been allowed to re-operate flights, but are forced to reduce their crew numbers due to the explosion of cases (and) their staff.
According to Ms. Masiel, “the pressure on public health services is already high and the next two weeks will be crucial to determine the impact of infections during the end-of-year festivities on hospital admissions.”
However, the expert is not afraid of a new deadly wave like the one that swept Brazil a year ago, “when the vaccination was only in its infancy”, she estimates that the country will face “the Omicron wave”.
Nearly 70% of Brazilians have now been fully vaccinated and this week began vaccinating children between the ages of five and eleven, despite a furious reaction from President Zaich Bolsonaro.
The far-right head of state, who continues to downplay the severity of the pandemic, has made it clear that he will not allow Laura’s 11-year-old daughter to be vaccinated. He boasts that he has not been vaccinated either.
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