First modification: 03/03/2021 – 04:24
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Brasilia (AFP)
The pandemic is not abating in Brazil and has many of its hospitals on the brink of collapse as vaccination against COVID-19 gains momentum in several countries and the United States hopes to have all its adults immunized before the end of May.
Brazil registered a record of 1,641 deaths in the last 24 hours on Thursday and accumulated more than 250,000 deaths, a figure only surpassed by the United States (515,000).
In the last seven days, the average in Brazil was 1,262 daily deaths, a number that until February had never exceeded 1,100 and generated the demand to impose drastic measures to contain the virus.
The acceleration is attributed to the end of the year parties and carnival celebrations despite being banned in several states. In addition, a variant of the virus detected in the Amazon is much more contagious, according to experts.
On Monday, the health secretaries of the 27 states of Brazil called for “the immediate adoption of measures to avoid the eminent national collapse of the public and private health networks,” including the imposition of a curfew between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. 06H00 throughout the country.
The pandemic in Brazil has been marked by tensions between the governors of most states and President Jair Bolsonaro, who downplayed its importance, promoted crowds without the use of masks and opposed confinement measures to preserve the economy.
Likewise, the vaccination campaign began in mid-January and was interrupted in several regions due to lack of doses.
Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend, was vaccinated on Thursday and took the opportunity to send a message: “The pandemic has not ended. We need to maintain discipline to preserve lives,” said the 80-year-old star.
Brazil is one of the five countries most favored by the Covax system, coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure the supply of vaccines to the most disadvantaged countries.
The South American giant will receive 9.1 million doses through this mechanism and together with Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia and Bangladesh it will be one of the largest recipients.
Vaccination is advancing in Latin America. Nicaragua joined the list when it began this Tuesday to apply the Russian Sputnik V vaccine to people with chronic diseases, in a first phase of immunization.
In Chile, where vaccination is advancing swiftly, the government proposed this Tuesday to divide the election of the Constituent Convention scheduled for April 11 into two days in order to take care of the health of the voters.
“It is a sanitary measure to protect the health” of the more than 14 million Chileans eligible to vote, says the bill sent by the government to Congress.
– Optimism in the US –
The United States sent optimistic signals to its population. President Joe Biden said enough vaccines will be available for all adults before the end of May and announced that pharmaceutical giant Merck will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) vaccine that it immunizes with a single dose.
“It’s the kind of collaboration between companies that we saw in the World War,” Biden said of the agreement between the two companies.
“We are on track to have enough vaccines available for all adults in America by the end of May,” said Biden, who three weeks ago announced that that goal would be met by the end of July.
Biden’s statements came after the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, waived the obligation to wear masks and authorized all businesses in his state to operate normally. But Biden called not to let down our guard.
“This is not a time to loosen up,” he said. “Stay tuned,” added the president and finished: “This is not over yet.”
© 2021 AFP
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