Health

Brazil sets new 1-day marks for coronavirus cases, deaths

Recife, Brazil, Jul 29 (efe-epa).- Brazil, second only to the United States in the impact suffered from Covid-19, has set new one-day records for both infections and fatalities, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The 69,074 cases confirmed in the last 24 hours brought the total to 2.55 million, while deaths climbed by 1,595 to 90,134.

The latest figures were inflated somewhat by a technical glitch that delayed by a day the tallies from the Amazonian state of Para, the ministry said.

Brazil’s mortality rate from coronavirus stood Wednesday at 42.9 deaths for every 100,000 residents and the incidence of infection was 1,214.5 positive tests per 100,000 people.

Both of those numbers represent slight increases from the previous day.

Nearly 1.8 million Brazilians – 70 percent of those infected – have recovered from Covid-19, including President Jair Bolsonaro, several Cabinet ministers and some of the nation’s 27 state governors.

Another 675,712 people are under medical supervision after testing positive for the virus.

The populous and comparatively wealthy southeastern states of Sao Paulo (514,197 cases and 22,389 deaths) and Rio de Janeiro (161,647 and 13,198, respectively), have borne the brunt of the pandemic in Brazil.

But Ceara, in the impoverished northeast, has also fared badly, with 169,072 confirmed infections and 7,643 fatalities.

Some states hit hard at the start of the outbreak, such as Pernambuco and Amazonas, appear to be on the downward slope and Brazil as a whole is showing signs of stabilizing.

Even so, deaths continue to average more than 1,000 a day in this nation of 210 million people.

Amid efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19, Brazil is conducting clinical trials of two potential vaccines.

In Sao Paulo city, 9,000 medical professionals have volunteered to be dosed with a medication developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech.

Separately, the health ministry reached an accord with drugmaker AstraZeneca and Oxford University to obtain an experimental vaccine that has shown encouraging results in initial clinical trials.

Tests of that vaccine began this week in Brazil, yet the health ministry has already ordered 15 million doses due to arrive in December if the clinical trials pan out. EFE wgm/dr

Related Articles

Back to top button