São Paulo Advances Plan Reclassification and Should Harden Quarantine

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The São Paulo government has decided to advance the reclassification of the São Paulo Plan: the announcement will be made this Friday, January 15th rather than on February 5th as originally scheduled. The reason is the high number of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as a result of Covid-19.

Despite not having provided details, the administration is expected to harden quarantine in the state. Typically, a scheduling advance occurs when there is need to enforce more restrictive measures to contain the spread of the pandemic – and the indicators have worsened in recent days.

The state of São Paulo has 13,490 patients hospitalized by Covid-19 in the whole hospital network, the highest figure since August 2nd, 2020. The rolling average of deaths has stayed above 200 for five days.

“This Friday, the São Paulo government will announce a new reclassification of the São Paulo Plan taking as its reference studies that are being completed by the Covid-19 Contingency Center, which we have been closely following since February 26th when we had our first case confirmed,” said Governor João Doria at a press conference.

Currently, the regions of Registro, Presidente Prudente, Marília and Socorro are in the orange phase. More restrictive in the past, the stage underwent a relaxation on January 7th. The government also complicated the transition to the green phase, the most liberal of all. All other São Paulo regions remain in the yellow phase.