Rio de Janeiro (AFP)
Brazil surpassed the milestone of one million cases of coronavirus contaminations on Friday, only crossed previously by the United States, a sign that the epidemic is still uncontrolled in the largest country in Latin America.
The new global epicenter of the pandemic, Brazil records 1,032,913 contaminations after a record 54,771 new cases in one day, announced the Ministry of Health.
The country will cross in the coming days the cap of 50,000 dead, after 48,954 deaths on Friday following the inclusion of 1,206 additional deaths in 24 hours.
Official statistics are considered very underestimated by scientists due to the lack of massive screenings in this gigantic country of 212 million inhabitants.
But these data make Brazil the second country in the world where Covid-19 kills the most and contaminates the most - almost four months after the first case - behind the United States, which has exceeded 2 million cases and deplore nearly 119,000 dead.
Since the beginning of June, Brazil has registered the most new infections (518,000) and deaths (19,000) than any other country in the world, according to a compilation by AFP.
To date, the largest increase in 24 hours of contamination has been just over 34,000, a figure reached on June 16.
The ministry explained Friday's strong push "partly through instability in the way data is extracted from states like Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo". Data concerning several days would thus have been recorded for a single day.
With 12,232 dead, the state of Sao Paulo, the economic capital of Brazil and as populous as Spain with 46 million inhabitants, remains by far the first focus of coronavirus, ahead of that of Rio de Janeiro, which has 8,595 dead.
- Impact of deconfinement-
However, despite the symbolic milestone of a million cases, experts believe cautiously that the pandemic seems to finally reach a plateau, even if this hides strong regional disparities.
Asked about the evolution of the pandemic by AFP, the former Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta estimated Thursday that "the worst is over in the cities of North and Northeast and that Sao Paulo is moving towards a drop in the next few weeks, like Rio. "
But, he warned, it will be necessary to observe the impact of the deconfinement. This is what worries epidemiologists, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), when many Brazilian states, including the most affected, have started to deconfinement.
Some, like that of Sao Paulo, have authorized the reopening of "non-essential" businesses, after almost three months of paralysis. In Rio, the soccer championship resumed on Thursday.
"In other cities in the Southeast, it seems to me (that the pandemic is) still on the increase. In the South (the ebb) has not yet started," added Mr. Mandetta.
"Looking at Brazil as a whole, the epidemic (should have passed) in late August or September," he predicted.
In the heart of the Amazon, the indigenous populations were not spared: more than 6,000 people were contaminated and more than 300 died, according to the Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB).
- Ministers' Waltz -
If a plateau is looming, the fact remains that the figures for new deaths in 24 hours remain at a very high level, above 1,200 in recent days, a sign that the epidemic is far from being under control as said the government.
A country without a health strategy in the face of the coronavirus, Brazil is governed by a president Jair Bolsonaro who minimized the crisis and called on the population not to remain confined, in the name of preserving jobs.
While the states were taking action in dispersed order, the Ministry of Health has experienced a waltz of its holders since the onset of the pandemic.
General Eduardo Pazuello has been the third Minister of Health since April. He appointed some twenty soldiers to the ministry and generalized the much disputed hydroxychloroquine, at the insistence of President Bolsonaro.
© 2020 AFP