In the headlines: One in 425 Brazilians swept away by the Covid-19
The Covid-19 has killed more than 500,000 people in just over a year in Brazil.
© REUTERS / Pilar Olivares
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
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The Covid-19 pandemic dominates the headlines of the Brazilian press and for good reason: Brazil became this weekend the second country in the world after the United States to exceed the threshold of 500,000 deaths.
"A country on the edge of the precipice"
, headlines the
G1
news site
. To understand the scale of the health disaster, it suffices to specify that one in 425 Brazilians was killed by the disease, writes G1. The weekly
Carta Capital
recalls that it took only 51 days, so not even two months, to go from 400,000 to 500,000 deaths.
According to specialists consulted by
Carta Capital
, the third wave of the pandemic is arriving.
"The crisis is of a health nature, but also of a political nature,"
explains a doctor in the weekly, because to curb the spread of the virus, given the slowness of vaccination, restrictions should be put in place.
But for President Jair Bolsonaro, who continues to oppose barrier gestures and any restriction of movement, "
freedom is more important than life
", sums up
Carta Capital
.
Disillusioned youth
In any case, the pandemic is already having an impact on the morale of young Brazilians.
Disillusioned by the economic crisis which has only worsened with the Covid, half of Brazilians between 15 and 29 years old want to leave the country to settle abroad.
It is a study published by the newspaper
Folha de São Paulo
.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, suffering from Covid-19, will be treated in Cuba
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide obtains permission to go abroad for treatment for Covid-19. According to
Le Nouvelliste,
which relies on government sources, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 68, will seek treatment in Cuba. President Jovenel Moïse allowed Aristide to obtain a diplomatic passport for humanitarian reasons, a passport which will be valid for one year. The former president has been banned from leaving Haiti since 2014.
Also according to the source of Le
Nouvelliste
, the Cuban authorities have given their agreement to receive Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The Haitian ambassador in Havana is responsible for organizing diplomatic formalities.
However, it is up to the relatives and doctors of the former president to decide when he will be transferred to Cuba.
Le
Nouvelliste
unsuccessfully tried to contact relatives of Aristide for more information.
The reception of Covid-19 patients threatened by the gang war
The pandemic is expanding rapidly in Haiti while patient reception capacities remain limited.
And to these limited capacities is added the problem of insecurity.
According to
Le Nouvelliste
, the Delmas 2 care center, stranded by armed gang clashes in Port-au-Prince, could be forced to close its doors.
Heat wave and drought in Arizona
In the United States, a heat wave has hit the west of the country for several weeks, with dramatic consequences for vulnerable people. Last week, the thermometer in Phoenix read 115 degrees Fahrenheit, so 46 degrees Celsius. A challenge for construction workers who fear "
hot death
", as the
New York Times
writes
. More than a challenge, this heat wave represents a real danger for homeless people. More than 300 died from the heatwave last year.
The problem: the rise in the real estate market is forcing many people to leave their air-conditioned apartments to settle in motorhomes, or even sleep outside. This is the case of José Castro, whom the
New York Times
met in a park in Phoenix. He and his wife have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and can no longer pay their rent of $ 1,000. The city of Phoenix has set up air-conditioned reception centers, but José says he is not aware of them. "
Anyway, with my old cell phone I couldn't locate them,
" he told the
New York Times
reporter
.
The heatwave also caused a great drought in Arizona.
Authorities could restrict the use of water, according to the
Arizona Republic
newspaper
.
But several golf clubs, which are watered from groundwater, have already announced their opposition, writes the daily.
Restricting access to water would threaten the existence of these clubs, the owners argue.
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