Brazil on Tuesday recorded 34,918 new cases of Covid-19, a 24-hour contamination record, accompanied by 1,282 deaths for the same day, the Ministry of Health reported. The second most affected country in the world after the United States in terms of infections and deaths, now has 923,000 cases of new coronavirus for 45,241 deaths. Epidemiologists believe that the figures could be much higher in reality, the population still having few tests at its disposal.
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The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the office of the World Health Organization for the Americas, has again expressed concern about the situation in this country of 212 million people. “Brazil accounts for 23% of all cases and 21% of all deaths in our region (of the Americas). And we don't see a slowdown in contamination. The same is true in almost all Latin American countries and some in the Caribbean are increasing, " said Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO, at a press conference in Washington.
Brazil has struggled to establish a strategy to fight the virus. President Jair Bolsonaro, who compared the virus to a "small flu" , has rejected containment measures implemented by state and local authorities. The far-right leader argues that the economic impact of such measures may be worse than the virus and has touted drugs like chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, despite the lack of scientific support for their effectiveness against Covid-19.