SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil reported 24 hours of COVID-19 deaths exceeding 4,000 for the first time on Tuesday, becoming the third nation to exceed the daily threshold.
Many governors, mayors and judges are reopening parts of the economy, despite persistent chaos in overcrowded hospitals and a collapsed health system in many parts of the country.
Brazil’s health ministry said 4,195 deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours, with the national pandemic rapidly approaching 340,000, the second largest in the world. The United States and Peru alone recorded more than 4,000 deaths a day.
The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in Brazil, with 46 million inhabitants, recorded almost 1,400 deaths in the last number. Health officials said the figure was partly due to the Easter holiday, which delayed the number.
Local authorities at the national level claim that the number of cases and hospitalizations is on a downward trend after a week of partial closure.
Miguel Lago, executive director of the Brazilian Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials, said the reopening is a mistake he fears will lead to even more deaths, though he believes that it is unlikely to be reversed.
“The fact is that he won the anti-blocking narrative of President Jair Bolsonaro,” Lago told the Associated Press. “Mayors and governors are politically forbidden to tighten policies of social distancing, because they know that the president’s supporters, including business leaders, will sabotage him.”
Bolsonaro, who has long minimized the risks of coronavirus, remains fully against blockages as it harms the economy.
Patients with COVID-19 use more than 90% of beds in the intensive care unit in most Brazilian states, although the figures have been stable since last week. However, hundreds die as they wait for basic care and consumption, such as oxygen and sedatives, are depleted in several states.
Less than 3% of Brazil’s 210 million people have received both doses of coronavirus vaccines, according to our online research site, World Our in Data.
Over the weekend, judges at Brazil’s Supreme Court began a toll on the reopening of religious buildings, which were closed by many local authorities, despite a federal government decision to label them as part of essential services.
Some churches welcomed their faithful on Easter Sunday, but others were stopped by mayors and governors. Their reopening will be resolved in the high court on Wednesday, but some local councils, such as Belo Horizonte, voted on Tuesday to keep the religious buildings open.
Also on Tuesday, a judge in Rio de Janeiro allowed the reopening of schools as Mayor Eduardo Paes wanted. A few hours later, the mayors of Campinas and Sorocaba, two of the most populous cities in the state of Sao Paulo, agreed to reopen the business with a drive-thru purchase system after a 10-day shutdown.
Professional football directors in Sao Paulo have said they expect to play games this week after a 15-day hiatus, promising local prosecutors that they will follow stricter health protocols.