The new coronavirus continues its inexorable advance in Latin America, which in turn has become the “epicenter” of the pandemic, in particular in Brazil, the second country with the most cases in the world behind the United States.
In the past 24 hours, 965 deaths have been recorded in the country, a figure that has been above 1,000 for several days. At 7 p.m. Saturday local time, Brazil registered 22,013 deaths, placing the country in sixth place globally. With a total of 347,398 infections, it has now replaced Russia in second place in the balance of the number of cases identified.
Washington to ban travel to Brazil (advisor)
The United States will announce a travel ban on Brazil, which has become one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the world, said White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien on Sunday . “I think we are going to have a new travel decision today related to Brazil, as we did with the UK and Europe and China, and we hope it will be temporary“The official, whose country has registered nearly 100,000 deaths from the virus, told CBS.
“But because of the situation in Brazil, we will take all necessary measures to protect the American people“The United States has already suspended travel from China, most European Union countries and the United Kingdom, as the new coronavirus spreads .
Cancer and pandemic, the double battle of the mayor of Sao Paulo
The mayor of Sao Paulo, Bruno Covas, has to fight two battles head-on: against a serious cancer and against the coronavirus pandemic which is ravaging the largest megalopolis in Latin America. Confined in his office at the town hall, where he installed a bed and a bedside table, the young 40-year-old councilor wants to be available 24 hours a day to deal with the health crisis that affects its 12.2 million people .
Last year, the diagnosis fell: cancer of the digestive tract. After long sessions of chemotherapy, he had to start immunotherapy on February 26, the day that Sao Paulo identified the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Brazil.
“I never thought of leaving my post, because at no time did the doctors deem it necessary“explains the forties in an interview with AFP. Bruno Covas hardly ever leaves the town hall, installed in an imposing 15-storey building surrounded by shrubs and plants. Divorced, he receives the visit of his son 14 years old several times a week, he only goes out to hospitals or for meetings with the governor of the State of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, who is also his predecessor.
Struggling with Bolsonaro
Pale, thin, completely bald, wearing a black sweater, with a matching mask barring his face, he draws his strength from an iron will to stem a pandemic that has already killed more than 3,000 in his life. city, more than 20,000 nationwide. At each press conference, the message “#Fique em casa” (stay at home) is stuck on the desk, even if the mayor admits a certain frustration at the reluctance of many residents towards containment measures.
These measures are not coercive and consist mainly of the closure of businesses considered non-essential, only supermarkets and pharmacies remaining open. The containment rate measured from the mobile phone signal is painfully around 50%, when the objective was to exceed 70%. But Bruno Covas still finds “gratifying that almost 6 million“of its citizens agree to stay at home.
“We have already been confined for almost two months, each day more is a sacrifice that we ask of the population“continues the city councilor, whose efforts are constantly undermined by the repeated calls for the deconfinement of the president of the extreme right Jair Bolsonaro.
“The president does not follow any medical directive, but wants to impose by decree the use of chloroquine“whose efficacy against Covid-19 has not been scientifically proven.”It really hurts the country“, he says.”The virus is not on the right or on the left, it is a scientific reality that must be faced“, insists the mayor.
He nevertheless judges “impossible“to decree a total containment in his city without a total consensus with the authorities of the State of Sao Paulo, the richest and most populated of the country, and the mayors of the neighboring cities.
Hospital bed race
Despite his youth, he is far from being a novice. Grandson of Mario Covas (1930-2001), a major political figure in Sao Paulo and nationwide, Bruno Covas obtained his first term at 26, being elected regional deputy for the center-right party PSDB , of ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002).
In 2016, he was elected vice-mayor alongside Joao Doria, who gave way to him in April 2018, to run for governor. Even if Sao Paulo is the main source of the virus in Brazil, Bruno Covas considers that the megalopolis “is going through the crisis in a better situation than other major state capitals” from the country.
According to the latest official figures, 88% of the beds in intensive care are occupied in Sao Paulo and its suburbs, while other big cities, like Manaus (north), have already exceeded 90% for several weeks.
Two field hospitals have been set up by the town hall, one of them at the Pacaembu football stadium, and the mayor is now trying to obtain additional beds in the private sector.
“Some cities did not take care of their population and had to open mass graves to bury their dead“, he notes.
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