The new variants of the coronavirus that are considered more communicable and dangerous are advancing through Brazil and are already predominant in at least a quarter of the country facing the worst phase of the pandemic with more than 1,600 daily deaths.
Refrigerated containers to store bodies, ambulances turned into makeshift hospital rooms, transfer of patients thousands of miles away … The signs of an impending sanitary collapse are increasingly visible in Brazil.
In the past four days, the number of deaths from covid-19 has not dropped below 1,600. On Friday there were 1,800. According to the Ministry of Health, 1,910 lives were lost on Wednesday, an all-time high in the country.
The depletion of part of society after a year of restrictions, President Jair Bolsonaro’s denial and lack of action at the national level also make Brazil a huge “breadbasket” for the emergence of new variants, say specialists who have been consulted. by. Efe.
“Brazil will be the largest open-air laboratory for coronavirus, a large number of mutations can arise” and as a result “more infections and more deadly variants,” warned renowned Brazilian scientist Miguel Nicolelis, professor, Efe on Friday. Duke University in the United States.
Since the beginning of the health crisis, there have been 262,770 deaths and about 10.9 million cases in Brazil, although the actual number of infections is estimated to be two to three times as high.
In the past 24 hours, it registered more than 70,000 cases, the most in the world, even above the United States, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Consequence? Three quarters of Brazil is occupied with more than 80% of intensive care beds.
NEW VARIANTS GET LAND
Behind this ‘tsunami’ of infections, which has been steadily increasing since November, are several factors, but the one that most worries scientists is the rampant circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations associated with greater infectivity.
In at least seven of the 27 Brazilian states, most cases are already detected with so-called “worrying variants”. They are Amazonas, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, according to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a leading medical research center in Latin America.
In all hospitals, hospitals are at the limit, especially in the last three, which make up the southern region of the country. And it seems to be just the beginning.
“The effect of the variants will now be noticeable,” warned Nicolelis.
Fiocruz has identified the mutation shared by the UK, South Africa and Brazil variants in more than half of the infections in these states.
The Brazilian, known as P.1 and originally from Amazonas, is already present in almost all of the national territory.
“The movie repeats itself. Amazonas was the first, but the others follow him. I wouldn’t be surprised if P.1 was primarily responsible for what’s going on in the South,” virologist Felipe Naveca told EFE. the Leônidas & María Deane Institute (Fiocruz Amazonia).
On the other hand, there is growing evidence that the Brazilian variant is able to evade the antibodies generated by a person who previously exceeded covid-19.
And the greater the number of cases, the more likely new lines will emerge. In fact, Fiocruz has increased its genetic sequencing capacity across the country to find out “whether P.1 itself is evolving”.
“As long as we have that environment with millions of cases every day, there is the possibility that another variant will emerge and I don’t know if it will be worse than P.1. worse will appear, ”Naveca insisted.
LONG LINES FOR A VACCINE THAT IS SCISSORS
Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign is progressing slowly amid great social desperation. Only 3.5% of the population has received the first dose.
In the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, the Duque de Caxias mayor’s office decided to call people over 60, despite the fact that doses are available for only 7% of them.
The announcement provoked crowds and miles of vehicles in this town, which began to receive hundreds of people from neighboring towns eager to be vaccinated.
Amid this shortage, the Health Department reported today that it is negotiating with Moderna to purchase 13 million doses of the US company’s vaccine.
At the same time, more and more regional and municipal governments have chosen to tighten health measures to contain the virus. There will be a curfew in the city of Rio de Janeiro from this Friday.
Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará (northeast), also today announced the closure of all businesses in the city, except the essential ones. The same measure will take effect from tomorrow Saturday and for two weeks in the state of Sao Paulo.
TRUCKERS PROTEST AGAINST RESTRICTIONS IN SAO PAULO
Unaware of the health crisis, a group of truck drivers blocked a major highway in Sao Paulo on Friday to protest the restrictions passed in the region.
The trucking industry is a key ally of Bolsonaro’s social base, a denier on the severity of the pandemic.
The far-right president, who censors the use of the mask, has doubled down on his attacks on governors and mayors in recent days for imposing new restrictions.
“Enough picky, mimimi, are we going to cry till when?” The head of state asked angrily, at the worst moment of the pandemic.