Brasilia. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) expressed its “concern” on Wednesday about the rise in Covid-19 cases in Brazil after the country broke a record of deaths this week, with an increase in infections in almost all the states of the country.
“We are concerned about the situation in Brazil. This is a stark reminder of the threat of a resurgence since areas badly hit by the virus continue to be very vulnerable to infections,” the director of PAHO said in a virtual press conference. Carissa Etienne.
On Tuesday, Brazil reported 1,972 deaths from Covid-19, a record number of deaths at a time when the health system is overwhelmed and vaccination is advancing at a slow pace. The country, which has suffered 268 thousand fatal cases, is the second worst hit by the pandemic after the United States.
“Cases are on the rise in almost all Brazilian states,” Etienne warned. “We cannot wait until our systems are overwhelmed to implement public health measures,” added the health worker.
Regarding the situation in the rest of the continent, PAHO reported that the United States, Canada, and Mexico continue to report a drop in cases, despite the fact that there are very active outbreaks in the state of Virginia, in the United States, and in the locality. from Nunavut, an indigenous community, in the Canadian Arctic.
PAHO also reported a drop in cases in Central America, although with an increase in some areas of Guatemala and the indigenous region of Guna Yala in Panama.
In South America, the agency pointed out that there is an increase in new cases in Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile and a decrease in Peru and Bolivia, but that in these two Andean countries the level of infections remains high.
Brazil asks China for help to get more vaccines
Brazil asked the Chinese embassy to help it acquire 30 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19, in order to guarantee that its immunization program goes ahead, according to a document that Reuters had access to.
In a letter sent to the Chinese ambassador to Brazil, Yang Wanming, a senior official from the Ministry of Health asked for help with the potential purchase and delivery of the vaccines from the Sinopharm laboratory during the first half of the year.
According to the letter written by Elcio Franco, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Health, Brazil’s vaccination program is in jeopardy if it cannot access more doses.
“The immunization campaign (…) is at risk due to the lack of doses, in view of the shortage of international supplies. Therefore, the Ministry of Health has been seeking to make contact with new suppliers, in particular with Sinopharm, whose The vaccine has been shown to be effective against Covid-19, “Franco said in the letter.
Until now, Brazil has relied on supplies of the Chinese Coronavac vaccine, made by Sinovac, and doses from AstraZeneca Plc, developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
Last week, Brazil said it plans to buy 100 million doses this year of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc and 38 million injections from Janssen, the pharmaceutical unit of Johnson & Johnson.
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