Coronavirus: Brazil’s outbreak fourth largest in the world
Brazil’s number of coronavirus cases has surpassed those in Spain and Italy, making its outbreak the fourth largest in the world.
Brazil’s confirmed number of coronavirus cases has surpassed those in Spain and Italy, which were once the centre of the pandemic, making Brazil’s outbreak the fourth largest in the world.
Brazil’s health ministry on Sunday (AEST) registered 14,919 new confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 233,511, behind the US, Russia and Britain. Brazil has done just a fraction of the testing seen in those three countries.
Its health ministry also reported 816 new deaths related to the virus on Saturday, bringing the total to 15,662.
The global distinction is likely to pile pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his second health minister in a month on Saturday as he defied public health experts and calls for widespread use of unproven drugs.
Nelson Teich, an oncologist, took the job on April 17 faced with the task of aligning the ministry’s actions with the President’s view that Brazil’s economy must not be destroyed by restrictions to control spread of the virus.
Dr Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, also had rejected the use of chloroquine, which also had been touted by Donald Trump as a treatment.
Mr Bolsonaro has been fiercely critical of the orders by many of Brazil’s state governors for strict social isolation and quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, including the closure of schools, shops and restaurants.
He argues that the toll on the economy is becoming unbearable and businesses must be allowed to reopen as soon as possible. The government now expects Brazil will post its biggest annual economic contraction this year since records began over a century ago.
Vice-President Hamilton Mourao, 66, underwent a COVID-19 test and was placed in isolation at his official residence on Sunday, after a public servant who had been near him last week tested positive.
Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official laboratories by the beginning of the week, according to the Health Ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line.
By contrast, Italy and Spain have each run about 1.9 million official diagnostic tests for the virus.
Reuters, AP
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