Brazil exceeded the threshold of 450,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, May 25, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, and epidemiologists fear a third wave of contamination.
In total, 452,031 deaths have been recorded since March 2020, including 2,173 in the last 24 hours, official figures largely underestimated according to specialists.
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This country of 212 million inhabitants, the second most bereaved in the world behind the United States, also has 16 million confirmed cases of contamination, including more than 73,000 in a single day.
The seven-day daily death average, which was above 3,000 in mid-April, fell below 2,000 a month later, remaining stable around 1900 for ten days.
But what worries epidemiologists the most is the steady rise in the average daily infections since the start of May with its predictable impact on the death toll in the weeks to come.
This increase could be directly linked to the fact that health authorities in different Brazilian states began to ease restrictions a month ago, when the number of deaths began to decline slightly.
Indian variant
According to the latest epidemiological bulletin from Fiocruz, a benchmark public health institute, the risk of a third wave is real, with the curves of the pandemic already rising in eight of the 27 states of Brazil, and stable in ten others. The spread of the virus could be favored by the start of the southern winter next month, with lower temperatures, especially in the south of the country. Some 42.7 million people received one dose of the vaccine, or 20.14% of the population and 21 million both doses (9.9%).
Another source of concern: the first cases of the Indian variant identified last Thursday in the state of Maranhao (northeast), on six crew members who arrived on board a freighter flying the flag of Hong Kong. Local transmission of this variant has not yet been confirmed, but suspected cases have already been identified in the neighboring states of Ceara and Para.
The threat of a third wave does not seem to concern far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who led Sunday in a parade of several thousand bikers in Rio de Janeiro, followed by a walkabout without a mask. He assured that Brazil was living the "
end of the pandemic
" and criticized the restrictive measures taken by the governors. For three weeks, a Senate commission of inquiry has been looking into the "
omissions
" of the government during the health crisis, managed irresponsibly for most specialists.
