Brazil is new hot spot as cases soar, deaths spike
Sees more than 20,000 infections, 888 fatalities in 24 hrs, on course to be worst-hit after the US
RIODEJANEIRO/SAOPAULO: Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day.
Brazil might soon trail only the US in the number of coronavirus cases. Russia currently has the second-highest number of cases. Brazil’s coronavirus death toll is 18,859.
Brazil’s confirmed case tally now stands at 291,579, according to the health ministry. On Monday, Brazil overtook Britain to become the country with the third-highest number of infections and registered a daily record of 1,179 deaths on Tuesday.
President Jair Bolsonaro has been widely criticised for his handling of the outbreak.
The far-right former army captain has long snubbed social distancing measures, arguing instead for the reopening the economy.
Also, it has emerged that the coronavirus is killing Brazilian nurses faster than anywhere else in the world.
The country’s Federal Nursing Council says there are more than 15,000 nurses infected with Covid-19, which according to the council represents almost 40% of the global case toll.
As of Wednesday, 137 nurses had died. Walquirio Almeida, a spokesman for the body known as Cofen, links the high number of deaths to the lack of equipment and preparation of medical teams. “The numbers are very worrying, we did not expect this many,” Almeida said.