Brazil coronavirus cases surpass one million with fears the worst is still to come

This South American country has become the second country to surpass a million cases, with experts fearing the worst is still to come.

Joining a club no country wants to be apart of, Brazil is the second country to surpass one million confirmed cases, after reporting over 54,000 new cases in the past 24 hours.

This puts them behind the United States which has a confirmed 2,270,000 cases and also has the highest number of deaths, with 121,000 people having died from the virus. Brazil is also in second place, with over 49,000 deaths, 1200 of them from the last day alone. Today also marked the fourth consecutive day in which the country reported over 1200 deaths.

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The South American country’s high infection rate has been traced to President Jair Bolsonaro’s response to the global health crisis. Like US President Donald Trump, President Bolsonaro was initially dismissive of the virus and prioritised maintaining the economy in lieu of a national shut down.

Instead, social-distancing measures have been implemented by state and city governments, with the far-right leader issuing decrees which have exempted businesses like gyms and hair salons from lock down.

President Bolsonaro has even threatened governors who have refused to comply with legal action, writing on social media: "Governors who do not agree with the decree can file lawsuits in court”.

According to the BBC, the country's lack of testing suggests the actual figures are higher than what has been reported by Brazil's health ministry and experts think the pandemic is still weeks away from its peak.

A projection from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington forecasted Brazil's death rate will climb to 125,883 deaths by August 4, if national policy doesn't change.

“Brazil must follow the lead of Wuhan, China, as well as Italy, Spain, and New York by enforcing mandates and measures to gain control of a fast-moving epidemic and reduce transmission of the coronavirus,” said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray.

“Until then, IHME is forecasting the death toll in Brazil will continue to climb, there will be a shortage of critical hospital resources, and the peak of deaths may not occur until mid-July.”

Poor testing rates have meant that Brazil’s actual virus rates may be much higher than expected. Picture: Mauro Pimentel/AFP.

Other South American countries like Peru and Chile are also seeing a spike in infections. Globally, the two countries rank sixth and ninth in terms of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 248,000 and 231,100 cases respectively.