Eighteen of the 26 states and one federal district in Brazil have ICUs with more than 80% of capacity, according to federal and state data. Nine of them are on the verge of collapse with more than 90% capacity.
Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello acknowledged the crisis, telling state governors on February 25 that new variants of the coronavirus have made controlling the pandemic even more difficult in a country where mortality and infection rates have long been out of control .
“The mutant virus has three times the contamination capacity, and the speed may surprise governors in terms of structure and support. This is the reality we have today in Brazil, ”he said.
Data from the Brazilian state health departments show that the state of Rondônia is the one that most faces the increase in the number of cases, with an ICU with 97.5% of capacity. Then comes the south of the state of Rio Grande do Sul with 97.2% of capacity and the Federal District, which houses the capital, Brasília, with 96.45% of capacity.
Private hospitals are also collapsing across the country. Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein of São Paulo, one of the most exclusive hospitals in Brazil – where the first case of Covid-19 was detected in the country – is at 100% of the capacity of the ICU, the hospital spokesman said on Monday. .
Last week, Brazil set a record with 8,224 deaths over the week, bringing the country’s total death toll to 254,942. Brazil also registered more than 10.5 million cases as of Monday.
Calls for preventive measures
“With the slow vaccination process and the emergence of new variants of the virus and the uncertainties that still bring, there is a growing need to interrupt, or slow down, the virus transmission network through non-pharmacological preventive measures,” says the report.
The summons was repeated by the National Council of Health Secretaries of Brazil. In an open letter, the Council demanded that the government of President Jair Bolsonaro impose a national curfew, ban mass meetings and face-to-face teaching, close beaches and bars and implement a “National Communication Plan” to emphasize the need to such precautions.
So far, the Council said, “Brazil’s absence of a unified and coherent national approach has made it difficult to adopt and implement qualified measures to reduce the social interactions that intensified during the electoral period, at the end of the year, at meetings and parties summer and carnival. “
“The relaxation of protection measures and the circulation of new strains of the virus have led to the worsening of the health and social crisis,” he added.
During the pandemic, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticized the use of masks, threatened governors who adopt blocking measures and blamed previous governments and governors for the lack of ICU beds.
Report contributed by journalist Marcia Reverdosa in São Paulo, Mitch McCluskey of CNN in Atlanta and Caitlin Hu in New York.