Coronavirus: in Brazil, the undervalued number of contaminations raises fears of a massacre

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The epidemic is gaining ground in the largest country in Latin America, which is also the most affected. The number of cases of coronavirus would be fifteen times higher than the official figures.

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Brazilian scientists fear a massacre in this country of 210 million inhabitants, which today has 1,736 dead, and which has still not reached the peak of the epidemic . More than 300,000 cases have been officially registered, but the Covid-19 Brasil group of researchers estimates that this figure is actually 15 times higher.

In question, the lack of test. At the hospital, doctors only screen patients in serious condition. "  Brazil is in a very bad position and we can only take the problem in hand with mass screening  ", deplores Domingos Alves, member of the Covid-19 Brasil group and head of the Health Information Laboratory (LIS) of the University of Sao Paulo (USP).

300 people tested out of a million

Only 300 people would be tested out of a million. In an epidemic, it is of course impossible to test everyone, but in South America, the country is the worst student, says the daily Folha de Sao Paulo who cites in particular the Chilean example where the tests are carried out out of nearly 5,000 inhabitants per million, a ratio close to that of France and very far from Germany (15,730). The newspaper also denounces the elusive information disseminated by the Ministry of Health.

The Minister of Health could however be dismissed in the coming days. Henrique Mandetta, a 55-year-old doctor by training, totally disagrees with President Jair Bolsonaro on the presidential management of the coronavirus. He notably demands more social distancing, which the head of state rejects.

Jair Bolsonaro has often decried "  hysteria  " around a "  small flu  " and advocated the return to work of Brazilians, to save the economy. He has also continued to criticize the containment measures taken by governors in almost all states of the country.

"  If people keep going out, we will see scenes like in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with people dying at home and bodies left in the street. In Manaus [ Amazonia, north], hospitals are already on the verge of saturation,  ”warns Fred Nicacio, an emergency doctor in Bauru, in the state of Sao Paulo.

(With AFP)

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• Coronavirus
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