Coronavirus in Brazil: hospitals reach the limit between crisis due to variants

How did Brazil reach 10 million infections?

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(CNN) ––

Intensive care units in hospitals throughout Brazil are reaching their capacity limits due to the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, health experts and state officials beg the government to impose stricter containment measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.

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Current ICU occupancy rates in Brazil are the worst since the coronavirus pandemic began.

This was established in a February 26 report from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

It is a research institution of the country's Ministry of Health.

At least 18 of Brazil's 26 states and one federal district have their intensive care units at more than 80% capacity, according to federal and state data.

Nine of them are on the verge of collapse, with more than 90% of their capacity.

The Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, acknowledged the crisis.

In that sense, he told state governors on February 25 that the new variants of coronavirus have made it even more difficult to control the pandemic.

Precisely, in a country where death and infection rates have been skyrocketing for a long time.

«The virus with a mutation has three times the contagion capacity.

And speed can surprise governors in terms of structure and support.

This is the reality that we have today in Brazil, "he said.

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Data from the health secretariats in Brazil show that the state of Rondônia is the one that has the greatest difficulty with the increase in cases.

Its ICUs are precisely 97.5% of their capacity.

It is followed by the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul with 97.2% capacity.

In third place is the Federal District, which is home to the country's capital, Brasilia, with 96.45% capacity.

Private hospitals are also collapsing across the country.

The Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo, one of the most exclusive in Brazil and where the first case of covid-19 was detected, is at 100% capacity in its intensive care units, the institution's spokesperson reported on Monday .

Last week, Brazil set a record with 8,224 deaths over the course of the week.

A figure that brings the total number of deaths in the country to 254,942.

Brazil also registers more than 10.5 million cases as of this Monday.

Preventive measures to face the coronavirus in Brazil

The Fiocruz report urged Brazil to immediately take preventive measures to reduce the transmission of the virus while the vaccine is administered slowly.

Only 3% of the country's population has received a dose of the covid-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

And only 1% have received two doses, said the entity.

"With the slow vaccination process and the appearance of new variants of the virus and the uncertainties they still bring, the need to interrupt or slow down the virus transmission network through non-pharmacological preventive measures is growing," the report said.

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The call was repeated by the National Council of Health Secretaries of Brazil.

In an open letter, the council demanded that the government of President Jair Bolsonaro impose a national curfew.

Also prohibit mass meetings and face-to-face teaching, close beaches and bars.

In addition to implementing a "National Communication Plan" to emphasize the need for such precautions.

According to the Council, so far the “absence of Brazil of a unified and coherent national approach makes it difficult to adopt and implement qualified measures to reduce social interactions that intensified during the electoral period, at the end of the year, meetings and festivities of summer and carnival ».

"The relaxation of protection measures and the circulation of new strains of the virus led to the worsening of the health and social crisis," he added.

Throughout the pandemic, Bolsonaro has criticized the use of masks.

He has also threatened governors who adopt confinement measures.

He has even blamed past governments and governors for the lack of beds in intensive care units.

“The health [system] in Brazil has always had its problems.

The lack of ICU was one of them and certainly one of the worst, ”Bolsonaro tweeted on January 28.

With information from journalist Marcia Reverdosa in Sao Paulo, Mitch McCluskey in Atlanta and Caitlin Hu, from CNN, in New York.

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