The number of coronavirus deaths in Brazil exceeded 80,000 on Monday, according to figures from the ministry of fitness, as the world’s most affected country continues to fight the pandemic.
The figure, only the death toll in the United States, has quadrupled in two months. Brazil surpassed the mark of 20,000 coVID-19 deaths on 21 May.
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Recently, the Latin American country of 212 million people has recorded more than 1,000 new deaths per day, although Monday’s figure fell to 632, bringing its total death toll to 80,120.
The country showed a total of 2.1 million infections.
Experts say the subtest means the actual numbers are much higher.
President Jair Bolsonaro, himself infected, faces a complaint about minimizing the virus and urging state governors to reopen their economies despite recommendations from fitness officials.
The far-right leader is lately quarantined, along with several burning members of his cabinet. But in the past he had challenged the government’s home maintenance measures, which he said could have a more damaging economic effect on than the virus itself.
Bolsonaro, who compared the virus to a “little flu,” took to the streets without a mask until he got infected, shaking his hand and shooting at his followers at rallies.
Like U.S. President Donald Trump, whom he admires, 65-year-old Bolsonaro touted antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as promising treatments, and takes the latter himself, despite the lack of evidence of its effectiveness against COVID-19.
The World Health Organization said Friday that the epidemic in Brazil seems to have stalled in spite of everything.
There is “an opportunity here now for BrazilArray … to suppress transmission of the virus,” said WHO Head of Health Emergencies Michael Ryan urging the country to “take control.”
But although the point of death and infection has stabilized, it remains high.
On average, Brazil has recorded more than 1,040 new deaths and 33,000 new infections in line with the day of the week.
“WHO is talking about a plateauArray … but the challenge is that the point remains very high, and it turns out that it is in a position to remain so for a while,” said Mauro Sánchez, an epidemiologist at the University of Brasilia.
The inauguration “will count on what we do in terms of public policy and if others stick to it,” he told the AFP.
Only the United States has infections and deaths that Brazil in the pandemic, with 3.8 million and 140,811 respectively.
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