With 749 Deaths in 24 hours, Brazil Exceeds 13.000 Covid-19 Victims (May 13th)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has 188,974 confirmed cases and 13,149 deaths from coronavirus, according to data released by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, May 13th.

After recording the highest increase since the start of the pandemic on Tuesday, the number of deaths dropped and there were 749 in 24 hours.

With another 11,385 people infected by Covid-19 in one day, Brazil has passed France in the number of cases, according to a survey conducted by Johns Hopkins University. Yesterday, the country had already overtaken Germany.

Now Brazil ranks sixth among the nations most affected by the disease. It is behind only the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy.

The epicenter of the coronavirus in Brazil, the state of São Paulo has exceeded 4,000 deaths. There are now 4,118 victims. In two weeks the death tally has doubled. In total, there are 51,097 people infected by covid-19.

Rio de Janeiro, the second most affected state, records 18,728 confirmed cases and 2,050 deaths. A further 907 deaths are under investigation, according to the Health Secretariat.

Postponed social distancing directive

After pledging that he would release a unified social distancing directive on Wednesday, Health Minister Nelson Teich canceled the briefing.

“The goal was to have a plan built on consensus. However, this agreement was not reached in the meetings held so far,” said an official note from the Ministry to the press.

The Minister has struggled to pass the measure together with the National Council of State Health Secretaries and the National Council of Municipal Health Secretaries.

On Monday, May 11th, Teich presented a preliminary document and was surprised when the two councils decided not to support the directive.

Source: Exame