Brazil nears 420,000 Covid fatalities despite drop in deaths (May 7)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is close to 420,000 deaths from covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic even though the daily average number of deaths continues to fall, and this Friday was at its lowest level in almost two months, the Ministry of Health reported.

According to the bulletin released this Friday by the Ministry of Health, the Latin American giant registered 2,165 new deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 419,114 in almost 14 months of the pandemic.

Similarly, Brazil recorded 78,866 new infections on Friday, bringing the total number of accumulated cases to 15.08 million.

The figures confirm this country of 212 million inhabitants as one of the most affected by covid globally and as the second in number of deaths after the United States and the third in infections after the U.S. and India.

Despite the sharp jump in deaths and cases in the first months of this year, when the country began to experience a second wave of the most virulent and deadly pandemic, the numbers are beginning to fall gradually and slowly, according to data from the Ministry.

According to the portfolio, the average number of deaths in the last 7 days stood this Friday at 2,190 per day, the lowest in the last 49 days since March 19 (2,173) and much lower than the record recorded April 1 (3,117 deaths per day).

The 7-day average number of deaths fell by 11.7% compared to one week ago (2,481 deaths per day on April 30) and 13.2% compared to two weeks ago (2,524 deaths per day on April 23).

Despite the drop in the number of deaths, the average number of cases, which had also been falling after the records set at the end of March (77,129 daily infections on March 27), rose again to 60,491 daily infections on Friday, compared to 56,533 daily infections on April 26.

According to the Ministry’s bulletin, of the 15.08 million Brazilians who have contracted coronavirus, 13.6 million have already recovered and been discharged, which corresponds to 90.4% of the total. Another million are still under medical care (6.8%).

These figures indicate that covid has a mortality rate in Brazil of 198 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, an incidence of 7,140 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, and a case fatality rate of 2.8% of those infected.

The state of São Paulo, the most populated country with 46 million inhabitants, is the most affected by the pandemic, with 2.98 million cases and almost 100,000 deaths.

Despite being the seventh with the highest number of cases, with 778,662 infections, Rio de Janeiro is the second state in deaths, with 46,171.

Even though the numbers of deaths and cases remain high, both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro announced on Friday new phases in their processes of de-escalation of the restrictive measures imposed to try to curb the pandemic.

The Governor’s Office of São Paulo announced that as of Saturday, commercial establishments, including restaurants and bars, will be able to open until 21.00 local time, one hour more than at present, and operate with up to 30% of their maximum capacity and no longer 25%.

The mayor’s office of Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, completely liberalized the hours in which bars and restaurants may operate and authorized bathers to return to the beaches on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as the reopening of the show houses.