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April 15, 2021 Brazil, which has become the global epicenter of the pandemic, continues to record well over 3,000 deaths a day and more and more under 40 hospitalized in intensive care.

But the most worrying aspect concerns the children.



According to official data released by the Ministry of Health, between February 2020 and March 15, 2021, Covid-19 killed at least 852 children up to 9 years of age, including 518 newborns.

However, this number would be more than double, says epidemiologist Fatima Marinho, of the University of Sao Paulo, since many deceased children in Brazil were unable to take a swab, for the simple reason that it was not available.



Dr Marinho looked at deaths from acute respiratory syndrome - not registered as Covid - and found that they were 10 times higher than in the pre-pandemic period. After doing some calculations, she came to the conclusion that since the beginning of the epidemic, the coronavirus has killed 2,060 children up to 9 years old in her country, including 1,302 newborns.



Intubated patients without sedatives, stocks run out


The Covid emergency in Brazil is increasingly dramatic, where there is a serious lack of drugs for intubation in public health centers in the State of Sao Paulo and beyond. According to health authorities in this state, more than half of the hospitals have run out of stocks of sedatives.



"For 40 days we have been sending letters to the Ministry of Health asking for help. They are important drugs to sedate patients" who must be intubated, said the Minister of Health of Sao Paulo, Jean Gorinchteyn, in an interview with GNews.



Brazil has seen an increase in infections and deaths from Covid for months. São Paulo, the most populous state (45.9 million), has an average of 15,000 cases and 773 deaths per day. Sedative shortages were also reported in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, which were also heavily affected by the second wave.



Local media reported that in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro it was necessary to tie up some patients who, still intubated, woke up due to a lack of sedatives. Brazil, 212 million inhabitants, passed the 360,000 death mark on Wednesday.



Humanitarian catastrophe and mismanagement


The chaotic management of the Covid-19 crisis by the Brazilian authorities "without any coordinated and centralized response" has plunged the country into a "humanitarian catastrophe". The harsh j'accuse comes from Doctors Without Borders (MSF), present in Brazil since 1991, which since the beginning of the pandemic has sent health teams to 8 Brazilian states, now focusing on the three most affected northern regions: Rondonia, Roraima and Amazonas.



"The lack of political will to act adequately in response to this pandemic is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Brazilians," MSF denounced in a statement.



The NGO reported that during the week of April 5, 11% of new coronavirus infections in the world occurred in Brazil and more than a quarter of all deaths. "These numbers are proof of the authorities' inability to manage the health and humanitarian crisis in the country and to protect Brazilians from the virus, especially the most vulnerable ones," said MSF.



"In Brazil, public health issues are exploited by political power. The health measures to be taken should be based on scientific facts and instead are often associated with political views, without providing tools to protect individuals and their community," Christos said. Christou, international president of MSF.   



Since the beginning of the pandemic a year ago, Covid-19 has caused over 360,000 deaths and 13.6 million infections in Brazil, out of 210 million inhabitants. In the month of March alone, the victims were 66 thousand, with a daily average of 3 thousand deaths.