Brazil's health system "neither collapsed nor will it collapse," says minister

Brazil at the worst moment of the pandemic 1:19

(CNN) -

Brazil's Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said Wednesday that the country's health system "did not and will not collapse" amid recent warnings from mayors and local governments that their respective health systems Regions are on the brink of collapse, as ICU occupancy levels rise in almost every state in the country.

"Our health system is very impacted, but it has not collapsed or will collapse," said Pazuello, who attributed the increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the country "mainly to the new variants of the coronavirus."

• MIRA: Brazil: the high occupancy of beds in intensive care worries

Of the 26 states of Brazil plus the Federal District, 13 are on the brink of collapse with an ICU occupancy rate greater than 90% or more, and 23 states report more than 80% occupancy of the ICU, according to the secretariats state health agencies.

Pazuello once again lowered the estimate of vaccines that will be available in March and said that at the moment the ministry is expected to distribute between 22 and 25 million doses of vaccines to the states throughout the month.

The number has dropped several times in recent weeks.

In mid-February, when it released the vaccination schedule for the first time, the Health Ministry expected to have 46 million doses of the vaccine to distribute in March.

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• MORE: Brazil plunges into crisis due to covid-19: a second wave and a new deadly variant overwhelm hospitals

Since the start of Brazil's vaccination campaign on January 17, 7.8 million Brazilians have received at least the first dose, according to the most recent data from the country's Ministry of Health.

Brazil currently leads the daily death toll from coronavirus in the world.

This Wednesday, the country registered a record 2,286 deaths from the disease.

Since the start of the pandemic, Brazil has registered 270,656 deaths and 11.2 million cases, according to its Ministry of Health.

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