Rise in Covid-19 Deaths Prompts Curitiba to Reinstate Orange Alert Restrictions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Curitiba’s Secretary of Health, Márcia Huçulak, summoned an emergency live broadcast on Facebook to announce that the city will tighten measures to fight the coronavirus. As a result, according to the new protocol implemented in the city, Curitiba will operate under the orange flag, meaning that several of the restrictions relaxed in recent weeks will become effective again as of Monday.

“It’s unacceptable, it’s intolerable. The use of masks and other measures are effective, but there has been a relaxation of society in all sectors. Unfortunately, because of this, the flag is now orange. An intermediate risk, heading toward a situation that concerns us,” Márcia said.

Decree 774/2020 was published in an extraordinary order in the CuritibaMunicipal Gazette, suspending the following services:

• Gyms and all sports practices;
• Churches and religious temples;
• Public squares and parks;
• All entertainment events, with or without music on an occasional or periodic basis (such as theatres, parties, and related activities);
• Bars and related activities;
• Social and sports clubs.

There will be restrictions on working schedules and procedures:

• Street retail shops, allowed from 10 AM to 4 PM, Monday to Friday;
• Shopping malls, from Monday to Friday, from 12 noon to 8 PM;
• Restaurants in shopping malls may only operate from 12 noon to 3 PM. After that time, only delivery is allowed;
• Galleries and shopping areas, from 10 AM to 4 PM, Monday to Friday.
• Restaurants may only operate from 11 AM to 3 PM. After this time, only delivery or drive-thru is allowed;
• Restaurant and snack bars, from 11 AM to 3 PM. After this time, only drive-thru, take away and delivery is allowed;
• Offices and co-working areas, only 6 hours per day;
• Building materials stores, from 10 AM to 4 PM, Monday to Friday. On weekends, only from 9 AM to 3 PM;
• Hotels and inns, only 50 percent capacity;
• Movie drive-in, only for 3 hours (one screening per day).

The rules take effect from Monday, June 15th, at midnight Sunday.

New cases

The Municipal Health Service confirmed that four more people have died in the past 24 hours and 59 people have tested positive for the virus. Curitiba now counts 78 deaths by Covid-19 and 1,777 infections. Of these, 504 needed hospitalization during the symptom period, but only 167 remain hospitalized (71 of them in ICU). Among total infections, 1,263 have recovered and no longer display symptoms.

The victims

The four new victims are one woman and three men. She was 44 years old, diabetic, and hypertensive and recently diagnosed with invasive neoplasia. The 40-year-old man who died had already overcome a severe neoplasm and bone marrow transplant many years ago and now, in addition to obesity, presented postoperative and infectious complications as risk factors for clinical development.

The two other men who died were 67 years old and had co-morbidities such as diabetes or neoplasia that contributed to their deterioration and death by covid-19.