A record number of deaths from COVID-19 has been recorded in Brazil since the beginning of this month. As of Saturday, 67,977 corona deaths were recorded. This exceeds the March record. This is evident from figures from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The total now stands at 389,492 deaths, since the start of the pandemic. This makes Brazil the second most affected country in the world, after the US.
In the country of 212 million inhabitants, 3,076 people have died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number to 67,977 since April 1. In all of March, 66,573 deaths were recorded. Over the past seven days, an average of 2,545 deaths per day have been recorded on more than 60,000 infections. 71,137 new infections were registered on Saturday.
Despite the new monthly record, the number of deaths is stabilizing. “In the last two weeks there has been a stabilization in the number of infections and deaths from COVID-19,” said the Brazilian health institute.
The number of cases and deaths started to increase exponentially from January, mainly due to the spread of the more contagious Amazon variant of the virus. The country has so far vaccinated 5.8 percent of its population, or 12.4 million people.
Criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro
Right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro, who is regularly criticized for his chaotic policies towards the pandemic, has come under fire from all sides for his handling of the health crisis and a parliamentary committee of inquiry will begin next week to investigate any potential governmental negligence.
Bolsonaro downplays the danger of the virus and the large amount of deaths leaves him cold. “In which country don’t people die? Unfortunately, that happens everywhere,” the president said earlier.
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