Brazil crossed the 20,000 dead mark for the new coronavirus on Thursday, after a record increase of 1,188 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said. By far the most affected country in Latin America with two thirds of the continent's deaths, Brazil is currently experiencing a sharp acceleration in its curve, with a total of 20,047 deaths and 310,087 confirmed cases, figures which would be far below reality , according to scientists.
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Brazil, which has 210 million inhabitants, is the 6th country in terms of the number of Covid-19 deaths. It is the 3rd for contamination cases, behind the United States, by far the most affected country in the world, and Russia. The death toll has doubled in just 11 days in Brazil, according to ministry figures.
Over 18,000 new cases in 24 hours
The number of new daily deaths had only once exceeded the psychological bar of a thousand, with 1,179 recorded Tuesday. New infections confirmed within 24 hours totaled 18,508. Despite the very worrying spread of the virus, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro again called on Thursday for a resumption of activity, in the name of saving the economy.
But almost all of the 27 states of the huge country have decreed confinements, more or less flexible and observed less and less by a population tired of seeing its movements restricted since the end of March.
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A quarter of the dead in the state of Sao Paulo
The state of Sao Paulo, the economic and cultural capital of Brazil, remains by far the most affected by the pandemic, with around a quarter of the dead (5,558 Thursday) and cases of contamination (73,739). That of Rio de Janeiro, where the progression of the coronavirus has particularly accelerated in recent days, is the second focus of the country, with 3,412 deaths and 32,089 confirmed cases.