The first death in Brazil, that of a woman in her fifties from Sao Paulo (southeast), occurred on March 12, 2020, marking the beginning of a long health crisis that would overwhelm the country's hospitals, morgues and cemeteries.
Only the United States has recorded the worst toll, with 1.1 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The epidemic has killed at least 6.8 million people worldwide.
The management of the Covid crisis in Brazil has been marked by a large number of controversies between scientific circles in particular and former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
He has long said that Covid was a "flu", advocated ineffective treatments and opposed vaccination. He refused to confine the population in the name of preserving Latin America's largest economy, while multiplying crowd baths, most often without masks.
His successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called Bolsonaro "genocidal" and advocated the use of the vaccine, of which he himself received a 5th dose in front of the cameras last February.
"The vaccine that is available free of charge in all health units could have changed the lives of families who have lost loved ones during the pandemic," the health ministry said in a statement.
© 2023 AFP