Brazil’s toll hits a record high, with one death every 58 seconds

WITH its overall Covid-19 death toll exceeding 34,000 people, Brazil is now the country with the third highest number of deaths in the world, surpassing Italy.

Brazil is widely regarded to be the current global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with more new daily deaths and cases than any other country.

The Brazilian health ministry late on Thursday registered a record 1,473 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, a rate of one coronavirus death every 58 seconds.

The real situation may be much worse, however, as researchers and infectious disease experts believe the full extent of Brazil’s coronavirus epidemic has been grossly under-reported by official statistics.

Deaths by acute respiratory distress syndrome have skyrocketed in the country, with suggestions that some 6,000 of these cases, dating back to March and April, may have been undiagnosed Covid-19 deaths.

Furthermore, Brazil’s level of testing is dangerously low. Only 4,643 out of every million Brazilians have been tested, with one infectious disease expert in São Paulo telling The Daily Telegraph that only patients with moderate to severe symptoms are receiving tests.

The UK, meanwhile, has tested an estimated 73,762 people per million inhabitants – a rate some 15 times higher.

Brazil’s coronavirus infection curve is showing no signs of flattening, with experts predicting a peak of daily deaths to arrive only in July. Despite this, several Brazilian states are beginning to relax social isolation measures and reopen businesses, fearing mass unemployment and bankruptcy.

In São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city and home to almost 70,000 cases of Covid-19, shopping centres and commerce have reopened, and office buildings and car dealerships will be able to resume serving the public today.

Brazil’s federal government has been widely criticised for its inadequate response to the coronavirus outbreak, with far-right president Jair Bolsonaro referring to the disease as a “little flu” on a number of occasions.

A high-ranking former member the Bolsonaro government told The Daily Telegraph that the president regularly shot down any attempts to discuss a Covid-19 isolation strategy during cabinet meetings.

Mr Bolsonaro is radically opposed to social isolation and has continuously urged Brazilians to get back to work.