(Newser)
– The headlines about the state of things in Brazil this month have been bleak. Things are much worse now. The BBC reports that the country reported on Tuesday evening 2,841 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which it describes as a “big jump” from the previous high of 2,286 on March 10. And the Fiocruz health institute said the following: “The analysis by our researchers suggests that it is the biggest collapse of the hospital and the health service in the history of Brazil.” More:
- The country will see the appointment of the fourth pandemic health minister, Brazilian cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, on Wednesday. Reuters reports that no transfer date has been set.
- He is being urged to weigh the possibility of a national blockade, but he did not even come close to that in Tuesday’s comments, in which he promoted masks and hand washing, but did not press social distance.
- President Jair Bolsonaro has been vocal about his aversion to the blockades, and the AP Queiroga reports said on Tuesday that the COVID-19 policy he will implement “is under the Bolsonaro government, not the health minister.”
- Reuters reports that Queiroga will fill the vacancy occupied by Eduardo Pazuello, an active army general who has no medical degree and has been in office since May, reports the AP. The two ministers of health before him were short-lived, partly because they did not endorse the use of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID treatment.
- At the Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor presents a global context: Brazil is the second in total number of cases and deaths, behind the USA. But things are improving here and worse there, partly due to the spread of a more contagious P1 variant in the past two months. Tharoor adds that the use of coronavirus tests, “the key to tracking and stopping an increase in cases”, has declined sharply since December.
- The BBC reports that Rio Grande do Sul’s ICUs are 100% full, and a local politician on Monday shared an idea that shows the desperation setting in. Guardian reports Counselor Alberi Dias: “We have many entrepreneurs here who have helicopters and airplanes … I don’t know if they have a liquid version of the alcohol gel, but I think it would be a good idea to spray because the virus is in the air … They use airplanes to spray the plantations. Maybe it’s a good idea, because alcohol gel doesn’t hurt. “
- As for the vaccination rate in Brazil, it is low. Our World in Data lists its current number of single doses per 100 people at 5.6, compared with 32.62 in the USA.
(Read more stories from COVID-19.)