Health

Someone dies every 50 seconds from Covid-19 in Brazil

Sao Paulo, Mar 4 (efe-epa).- Brazil, one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the world, registered 1,699 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, equivalent to one death every 50 seconds, the government reported Thursday.

According to the Health Ministry’s daily balance, fatalities have now risen to 260,970 since March 2020, when the first death was recorded in Sao Paulo.

Thursday deaths were lower than those registered the day before when 1,910 passed on the day with the most fatalities from the pandemic, but it is higher than Tuesday when 1,641 people lost their lives.

The Government said the country registered 75,102 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the second-worst number of daily infections during the pandemic, exceeding the 71,704 recorded Wednesday.

Total coronavirus cases amount to 10.8 million since February 2020, when the first contagion was registered in Brazil, which together with the United States and India is one of the countries in the world most affected by the disease.

Since November, Brazil has faced a second more virulent and lethal wave of the pandemic that has led the country to average more than 1,000 deaths associated to Covid-19 during the last month and a half.

Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the most dismissive leaders concerning the disease’s seriousness, told the population to work Thursday.

“When are we going to cry till?” he said. “I appeal to governors and mayors to rethink those policies of closing everything. The people want to work. We are going to fight the virus, but not in that ignorant, stupid, suicidal way.”

Bolsonaro said people can “dream of better days for everyone, but without money, without employment, we are condemned to failure, misery and death or to actions that do not interest us, such as riots or looting.”

The far-right leader was referring to the tightening of restrictions imposed by the majority of the governors to avoid an imminent health system collapse following the serious increase in income from Covid-19.

Rio de Janeiro decreed a Thursday night curfew and the closure of any type of commercial activity on its beaches for a week, while the state of Sao Paulo ordered the closure of all non-essential activities starting Saturday.

Sao Paulo, the most populous state with 46 million inhabitants, has registered 12,236 new cases and 313 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the highest number in the country, followed by Rio Grande do Sul, which is experiencing its worst tally and already suffers health system collapses in some cities.

The southern state has recorded 9,940 cases and 188 daily deaths from coronavirus. EFE-EPA

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