RIO DE JANEIRO – The daily death toll of Covid-19 in Brazil reached a record 1,582 on Thursday, according to a survey by a news consortium on local health departments. The painful milestone came when President Jair Bolsonaro protested against facial masks, despite convincing scientific evidence that they are effective in preventing infections.
An increase in coronavirus infections in several states in Brazil, which authorities say is being driven by more contagious variants, has overwhelmed hospitals across the country.
While epidemiologists and health officials warn of the worsening crisis in the coming weeks, Bolsonaro targeted masks during his weekly Facebook speech on Thursday. Citing an unspecified German study, the president said the masks are bad for children and that wearing them can cause headaches, difficulty concentrating and a “decreased perception of happiness”.
Bolsonaro was criticized at home and abroad for his arrogant response to the coronavirus pandemic. He questioned the use of quarantine measures, social distance and sowed doubts about vaccines, saying that he does not intend to take vaccines.
While new cases and deaths are falling in a number of other countries that have been hit hard by the pandemic, including the United States, Brazil is in the grip of a second wave that started in November and shows no signs of abating.
The country started vaccinating medical professionals and the elderly last month, but the campaign got off to a slow start because the government has been struggling to get enough doses to quickly inoculate its 212 million citizens.
This week, Covid’s death toll in Brazil has exceeded 250,000, second only to the US count of more than 500,000 deaths. Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on Thursday that the country had entered a “new phase of the pandemic” as a result of variants that, he said, are three times more contagious than previous strains of the virus. “This is the reality that we live in Brazil today,” he said.