Brazil reported more than 3,000 COVID-19 deaths for the first time in a 24-hour period, as the pandemic spreads unchecked across the country and overruns its health system.
The Health Ministry said that 3,251 people died on Tuesday, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 298,676, the second most globally. Cases surged by 82,493 and 12.1 million people have now been infected.
A more contagious variant that originated in the Amazonian city of Manaus has spread rapidly across the vast Latin American country since the New Year as part of a second wave that’s prompted neighbors to shut borders and experts to warn about the consequences of not controlling the outbreak.
“To confront something of this magnitude you need to be absolutely focused on controlling the pandemic with an excellent nationwide coordination and that’s not happening,” said Amaury Lelis Dal Fabbro, a doctor of infectious diseases and professor at the University of Sao Paulo.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the severity of the pandemic and stressed the need to keep the economy open, swore in his fourth health minister earlier on Tuesday and was planning a nationwide address Tuesday evening from Brasilia.
Most of Brazil’s states have ICU occupancy rates above 80% with some at full capacity while the vaccination campaign has managed to give first doses to just 6% of the population.
Large states like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro only closed restaurants and bars in the past few weeks and governors are now scrambling to try to prevent a total collapse of hospitals with beaches cordoned off and holidays brought forward to keep people home.
