Covid-19: City of São Paulo Bucks Regional Trend, Sees Drop in Cases and Deaths

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In São Paulo capital, the rolling average of deaths reached 36 on Wednesday, September 30th – a 29.4 percent decline from the rate of 52 recorded two weeks ago. Over the same period, the number of cases dropped 15.2 percent from 1,097.6 to 941.7. It was the fifth consecutive day that the average fell below 1,000.

The scenario is quite different in Belo Horizonte, where the case rate increased 26.8 percent in the period (from 311.9 to 395.6) and the death rate rose 17.4 percent (from 8.6 to 10.1).

In Rio de Janeiro (20.6 percent) and Vitória (152.1 percent), there was an increase in the average number of cases, but stability in the death rate: there was no change in the capital of the state of Espírito Santo, and in the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro there was a variation of 1.8 percent upwards, but the survey only considers an increase or decrease when the variation is higher than 15 percent, according to the criteria adopted by the World Health Organization.

The city of São Paulo’s positive performance contributed to the drop in the case rate in the Southeast Region (-15.5 percent) – the average of deaths also varied downwards (-12.2 percent). In Brazil, the rolling average of cases stood at 26,578.6 (15.9 percent decrease) and of deaths at 710.7 (10.6 percent decrease).

Vaccine

On Wednesday, September 30th, São Paulo governor João Doria signed an agreement to buy 46 million doses of vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac. The agreement provides for the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines until December. The total cost, according to Doria, was US$90 million.

The delivery of an additional 14 million doses, totaling the 60 million doses previously announced by the governor, is expected by February. The state government intends to start the vaccination campaign in São Paulo on December 15th, if the CoronaVac vaccine is approved by the National Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA).

Source: Veja