Covid-19: in Brazil, scientists deplore "a lack of a coordinated response"

A new milestone was reached in Brazil on Monday July 20: more than 80,000 people lost their lives and 2.1 million people were infected, or 1% of the approximately 212 million inhabitants in the country, according to a report published by a consortium of Brazilian media.

This consortium, made up of the dailies Estado de São Paulo, Extra, O Globo, but also the news sites G1 and Uol, aims to independently compile data on the Covid-19 pandemic. One way to get around the attempts of the government of Jair Bolsonaro to minimize the number of deaths and contaminations in the country.

However, the consortium's figures are considered to be significantly lower than reality by the scientific community, in particular due to insufficient testing. According to this consortium, Brazil is the second most affected country in the world, behind the United States.

For WHO, pandemic has reached "a plateau" in Brazil

If the toll continues to increase with 721 victims in the last 24 hours and 21,749 new infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the pandemic in the country had reached "a plateau". There is "an opportunity now for Brazil to eliminate transmission of the virus," WHO medical emergencies chief Michael Ryan told a press conference on Friday (July 18), urging authorities to "take Control".

Still, the average number of deaths in a week has remained above 1,000 per day for over a month. "WHO is talking about a plateau, but the problem is that, despite this stability, the figures remain very high," Mauro Sanchez, epidemiologist at the University of Brasilia, told AFP. He expects this situation "to continue for some time" before the number of deaths and contaminations begins to drop.

"Lack of centralized response"

There are also large regional disparities in the treatment of the epidemic in the 27 states of the country. "The big problem in Brazil is the lack of a centralized and coordinated response: each state, even each city, does as it sees fit to counter the pandemic", deciphers for France 24 Maria Fernanda Grassi, infectious disease doctor and researcher at the Oswaldo Foundation Cruz in Salvador de Bahia. “We end up with very different situations,” she adds. Consequence: regions so far spared such as in the Center-West, the South but also rural areas, are experiencing an increase in cases of contamination.

In the state of São Paulo, the most affected in the country, rural areas now have the same number of Covid-19 cases as in the capital, namely 166,000. These remote regions, representing 52.6% of the population of the state, now have more deaths than the megalopolis: 5,616 since the start of the epidemic, against 5,338 in the capital, according to Folha de São Paulo .

In Minas or Bahia, the epidemic resumes despite early containment

Other regions, which thought they had escaped the worst by taking very early restrictive measures, find themselves caught up. In the state of Minas Gerais, the capital Belo Horizonte had decreed a first containment in early April, limiting the spread of the epidemic. Three months later, a new wave has changed the situation: 91% of municipalities in the state have identified cases, according to the local daily Estado de Minas, and the rate of occupancy of beds by Covid-19 patients in Belo Horizonte's public hospitals reached 91%, according to local authorities.

Same story in Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia: strict confinement had been imposed at the end of March, "with the wearing of a mask compulsory in all public places", specifies infectious disease specialist Maria Fernanda Grassi. "Here, the epidemic is now heading inland, and more than 90% of municipalities have been affected." She now fears an overload of hospitals. "Patients will surely be transferred to Salvador, which could start the epidemic again," she adds.

Despite this worrying situation, many states are pushing for an economic recovery. São Paulo, the epicenter of the epidemic, began a gradual deconfinement in June while Belo Horizonte decreed the reopening of bars and restaurants, according to the local daily  O Tempo . "This is absolutely not the time", worries Maria Fernanda Grassi.

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