How did Brazil get to the worst moment of the pandemic?
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(CNN) -
Brazil is ahead in the race that nobody wants to win.
In the past month, the country surpassed a series of grim milestones, repeatedly setting new records for the number of daily deaths from COVID-19.
Last week it hit another high: 12,818 new deaths and more than 464,000 new cases, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
These figures are signs of a spread that exceeds even that of the United States, the only country in the world that the pandemic affected the most in absolute numbers.
On the outskirts of Sao Paulo, the crisis is turning the Hospital de Emergencias Dr. Akira Tada upside down.
In normal times, doctors stabilized critically ill patients and sent them from this small hospital to larger ones better equipped with intensive care units.
But these are not normal times.
Few hospitals have the space to receive new patients now, even in the most populous and wealthiest state in Brazil.
When 76-year-old Dineia Martins Firmino was admitted to the hospital in early March, doctors intubated her and told the family that she had to be urgently transferred to an ICU for more sophisticated treatment, according to her granddaughter Pamela Rivippi. , 30 years old.
He never managed to get off the official list of transfer requests kept by the Government.
"There was no vacancy when he needed it and he ended up dying on Saturday," Ravippi said.
"We had the funeral on Sunday," he explained.
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Butt ICU beds and risk of oxygen shortage
The fierce new wave of coronavirus that claimed Firmino's life is flooding intensive care beds in Sao Paulo and across the country.
As of Sunday, 21 states and the federal district had an ICU occupancy rate above 80%.
Of this total, 14 were on the brink of collapse with an occupancy greater than 90%.
In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, located to the south, ICUs are so overloaded that the largest hospital that treats patients with covid-19 in Porto Alegre, the state capital, reported that Sunday it was forced not to admit new patients.
"The ICU wing for patients with covid-19 of the hospital already serves with 132% occupancy," said the management of the Hospital das Clinicas de Porto Alegre in a statement.
With crowded rooms, the demand for oxygen and other basic needs increases.
To the north, the state of Rondonia has 97.6% occupancy of ICUs and the Attorney General's Office has warned that local oxygen supplies could be depleted in just two weeks.
The state faces an "imminent risk of oxygen shortage," the letter said, a reminder of a crisis previously experienced by the city of Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, where hospitals were left without oxygen and the consequences were lethal.
Covid-19 leaves a trail of death in the Amazon 4:15
The federal government, facing criticism of its handling of the pandemic (including those of former President Lula da Silva), has targeted a new and possibly more contagious local variant of the coronavirus, which is spreading across the country and even abroad.
However, experts also blame the spread of covid-19 in Brazil on the fact that Brazilians do not follow the guidelines for wearing a mask and social distancing, encouraged by President Jair Bolsonaro, who dismisses the precautionary measures as dangerous. for the economy and social stability.
In Sao Paulo, at the same time, authorities are raiding nightlife venues to disperse gatherings of hundreds of people, Reuters reported.
Covid-19 vaccination advances slowly in Brazil
Meanwhile, despite having a solid track record in vaccination programs, the roll-out of covid-19 injections in Brazil has been slow.
Only 1.4% of the population is fully vaccinated so far.
Health Minister Pazuello, who is under investigation for handling the crisis in Manaus, recently estimated that between 22 and 25 million doses would be available in March.
This is a steep decline compared to previous estimates of up to 46 million doses available this month.
Lula da Silva praised health workers in Brazil 4:33
Brazil's Health Minister Pazuello, who is currently under investigation for his handling of the Manaus crisis, recently estimated that 22 to 25 million doses would be available in March, a sharp drop from previous predictions of up to 46 million vaccine doses would be available at this time.
month.
The federal government is negotiating new deals for the procurement of vaccines, including a purchase order for the Sputnik V that Russia makes.
However, for now the shortage persists.
In Rio de Janeiro, officials have already had to suspend the application of the first doses.
Mayor Eduardo Paes said they will resume the campaign when more vaccines are available through the Ministry of Health.
Justice intervenes to guarantee transfers to ICU
In a context of thousands of daily deaths, every hour that passes means lives that are lost.
This month, in a five-day period, a dozen COVID-19 patients died at Dr. Akira Tada Hospital, according to center officials.
All were on a waiting list to be transferred to an ICU.
Dr. María Dolores da Silva, an emergency physician at the hospital, has never seen anything like this.
With 42 years in the Brazilian public health system, he does not usually collapse when talking about his work, but in an interview with CNN he bowed his head and began to cry at the thought of the losses from covid-19 in Brazil.
"Psychologically it affects us," said Dr. da Silva.
"As much as we want to be strong, feelings arise from so much suffering that we see," he explained.
A local court recently intervened and ordered that at least 17 ICU beds be made available for those awaiting transfer.
The court pointed to the public statistics of the state of Sao Paulo, which state that approximately 10% of ICU beds in the region are still available.
The state faces a fine of US $ 6,000 for each day that it does not provide beds to those patients with COVID-19 in Brazil.
Restrictions in Brazil at the worst moment of the 1:13 pandemic
However, dozens more patients from D. Akita Tada Hospital are waiting to be transferred for treatment.
On Sunday morning, patient number 13 on hold passed away.
As of Sunday night, none of the remaining patients had been transferred.
CNN journalists Rodrigo Pedroso, Marcia Reverdosa and Matt Rivers reported from Sao Paulo. CNN's Caitlin Hu reported from New York.
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