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Covid-19: Why have deaths soared in Brazil?
[BBC] Brazil has the second highest death toll in the world from Covid, and experts are warning that a current surge in cases may not peak for several weeks.The rapid spread of a coronavirus variant first discovered in Brazil has been a major cause for concern around the world. President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently played down the severity of the virus, but he is now turning his focus to the nationwide vaccination drive which his critics say has come far too late. ONE IN FOUR GLOBAL DEATHS Brazil has by far the highest overall death toll in Latin America. In recent weeks, it has accounted for around one in four of reported Covid deaths worldwide. It remains behind Peru and Mexico as a proportion of overall population, but daily deaths are rising rapidly in Brazil. Twice the number of people died in March than in any other month of the pandemic, and the upward trend has continued, as a more transmissible variant drives infections. Regional leaders say mixed messaging and a resistance to lockdowns at the national level have made local restrictions harder to enforce. Hospital intensive care beds in many states across the country are full or close to capacity. Dr Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian professor of neuroscience at Duke University, told the BBC: "The country is in a nationwide hospital collapse right now - it's the first time in history the public health system has collapsed. "If we can acquire the vaccine in large quantities, we could at least mitigate the situation." VACCINE SHORTAGES Brazil has had a strong record in conducting vaccination campaigns and compared with many other countries in Latin America, it has a well-established healthcare infrastructure. But its coronavirus vaccination efforts have lagged behind those of Chile and Uruguay who top the table in the region. Public confidence in the vaccines in Brazil is among the highest in the world, but supply has been slow. Brazilian microbiologist Natalia Pasternak says: "We have a great immunisation programme, one of the best in the world. If we have enough doses, we know what to do, we have the expertise and the structure. We just need vaccines." Only around half the target of 46 million vaccine doses were delivered by the end of March. Brazil has now ordered enough doses to vaccinate its entire population - but critics say these agreements have come far too late, as other large countries with similar purchasing power are now ahead in the queue. Brazil has in-country production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which the government says will eventually provide millions of jabs - but a lack of the active ingredients needed to make the vaccine means that initial production in Brazilian labs has been limited. THE DANGERS POSED BY BRAZILIAN VARIANTS Brazilian public health institute Fiocruz says it has detected 92 variants of coronavirus in the country. In particular, the P.1 variant has become a cause for concern because it is thought to be much more contagious than the original strain and has been spreading across Latin America and the world. Scientists believe the current vaccines should still work against the Brazilian variant, although perhaps not quite as well, and new variants could emerge in the future that are different again. Posted by: Skidmark 2021-04-11 |
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