While Brazil reached the threshold of 200,000 victims of Covid-19 last week, the Brazilian state of Amazonas (north), particularly affected, announced Thursday, January 14 the establishment of a curfew of ten days.

In Manaus, the capital of this state almost entirely covered by the Amazon rainforest, "there is no more oxygen in the hospitals and some patients are on the verge of asphyxiation," Jessem Orellana told AFP. the Amazonian branch of the public health research institute Fiocruz.

Brazilian state of Amazonas institutes curfew

01:36

"We are at the most critical moment of the pandemic", admitted for his part the governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima.

"Our region produces large amounts of oxygen (thanks to the forest), but today, it is our population that needs oxygen and solidarity," he added, adding that many patients would be transferred to other states.

"There is a collapse of health care in Manaus", acknowledged the Brazilian Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, recalling that the region was one of the most affected in April, during the first wave of the epidemic .

"We provide our support in all aspects, with air, river and land bridges," he added.

However, military planes had brought nearly 400 oxygen tanks to Manaus over the past five days, but this number proved insufficient.

In an attempt to limit the number of contaminations - and therefore hospitalizations -, the curfew will prevent the population from going out from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Manaus recorded its fourth consecutive daily burial record on Wednesday, with 198 burials, including 87 people who died from Covid-19, according to municipality data.

"We just have to have faith"

Brazil was hit hard by the second wave of the pandemic, which killed more than 207,000 people in this country of 212 million people.

The death rate is 143 per 100,000 in the state of Amazonas, far above the national average (98 per 100,000).

Only the states of Rio de Janeiro and the federal capital Brasilia exceed it (159 and 146 respectively).

"Here, there is no longer any empty hospital bed, no more oxygen tanks, nothing. We just have to have faith," said Luiza Castro, resident of Manaus.

Images circulating on social networks show families of patients themselves bringing oxygen tanks to the hospital that they have obtained on their own.

Expected start of vaccination on January 20

Eduardo Pazuello, who traveled to Manaus earlier this week, promised on Wednesday that Amazonas state would have "priority" for the vaccination campaign, which has yet to begin.

On Thursday, the minister announced at a meeting with around 100 mayors that vaccination would begin on January 20, if emergency vaccine authorization requests are approved in time by regulatory agency Anvisa.

These requests, which must be processed on Sunday, concern the CoronaVac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, and that developed by the University of Oxford and the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR