Tag: Brazil

Brazil on Saturday surpassed 100,000 Coronavirus deaths and three million cases of infection, crossing the grim milestone after President Jair Bolsonaro said he had a “clear conscience” on his response to the outbreak.

With 100,477 fatalities and 3,012,412 confirmed cases, the South American nation of 212 million people is the second hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, after the United States.

The health ministry reported 905 new deaths in the past 24 hours, as well as 49,970 fresh cases.

But the official figures are most likely an undercount, with experts estimating that the total number of infections could be up to six times higher due to insufficient testing.

Brazil has seen 478 deaths per million people, a figure roughly equivalent to that of the United States (487), but lower than that of Spain (609) or Italy (583).

Senate speaker Davi Alcolumbre announced four days of mourning in Congress to pay tribute to the country’s 100,000-plus virus victims.

The Coronavirus outbreak in Brazil is showing no sign of slowing as it enters its sixth month.

The country’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was identified in Sao Paulo on February 26, with the first death on March 12, also in the city.

Brazil marked 50,000 deaths a hundred days later, but then doubled that total in just half the time.

Infections have accelerated in recent weeks in the countryside as well as inland regions and areas where the virus was late arriving, particularly the country’s south and center-west.

In southeastern states such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, hardest-hit by the virus in absolute numbers, the situation has stabilized, while the virus’ presence has declined in northern regions after reaching catastrophic levels in April and May.

‘Arrogance’

At Copacabana beach in Rio, activists from the NGO Rio de Paz released 1,000 red balloons Saturday while standing between 100 black crosses stuck in the sand, in a tribute to Brazilians who have died of coronavirus.

Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s leftist nemesis, on Twitter denounced “the arrogance of a president who has chosen to describe this cruel virus as a little flu, defying science and even death, and who bears in his soul the responsibility for all the lives lost.”

The contagion has cast a harsh light on Brazil’s inequalities, with the virus wreaking particular havoc on the country’s favelas and hitting black populations especially hard.

The country’s indigenous Amazon populations have also been hard hit, with one of Brazil’s leading chiefs, 71-year-old Aritana Yawalapiti, dying Wednesday of respiratory complications caused by COVID-19.

Bolsonaro’s government, which has been criticized for managing the epidemic in a chaotic fashion, is on its third health minister since the virus reached the country.

The right-wing leader, who tested positive for the virus last month but has since recovered, said Thursday he had “a clear conscience” and had done “everything possible to save lives.”

Bolsonaro also called the governors of states that took containment measures which he opposed for economic reasons “dictators.”

Brazil resumed its national football championship on Saturday, three months behind schedule.

Source: france24.com

Brazil registered record daily numbers of infections and deaths from the new coronavirus Wednesday, sending its overall death toll surging past 90,000 people.
Despite the record figures, the government issued a decree reopening the country to foreign visitors arriving by plane, ending a four-month travel ban in hopes of reviving a lockdown-devastated tourism industry.

Brazil, which has been hit harder than any country except the United States in the pandemic, recorded 69,074 new cases and 1,595 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the figures to a total of more than 2.5 million infections and 90,134 people killed since the start of the pandemic, the health ministry said.

Technical issues likely contributed to the high daily figures.

The health ministry had said Tuesday that problems with its online reporting system had delayed figures from Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state and the one with the most cases and deaths.

But in recent weeks the numbers of cases and deaths in the country of 212 million people have been stubbornly high even on normal days.

A health ministry official put that down to increased testing.

“The testing program in Brazil has expanded a lot in recent weeks. That’s an extremely important point,” Arnaldo Medeiros, secretary for health vigilance, told a news conference.

Open to travelers The government meanwhile extended coronavirus-related bans on foreign travelers arriving by land or sea for another 30 days, but said the restrictions “will no longer bar the entry of foreigners arriving by air.”

Brazil closed its air borders to non-residents on March 30, at a time when the virus was ravaging Europe and Asia and just taking hold in South America.

Now, Brazil is the hotspot, with no signs its infection curve is close to tapering off.

The tourism industry has already lost nearly 122 billion reals ($23.6 billion) because of the pandemic, the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) estimates.

As a whole, Latin America’s biggest economy is facing a record contraction of 9.1 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Leaving lockdown too soon? It remains to be seen how many foreigners will want to come.

Brazil has regularly recorded more than 1,000 deaths a day since early July, and more than 30,000 new cases a day since mid-June.

President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has struggled to bring the outbreak under control and faces criticism for its handling of the crisis.

The far-right leader has dismissed the virus as a “little flu” and attacked lockdown measures by state and local authorities to contain it, arguing the economic fallout could be worse than the disease.

Even after contracting the virus himself earlier this month, forcing him to work from quarantine at the presidential palace for more than two weeks, Bolsonaro has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic.

Rather than lockdowns, Bolsonaro is pushing the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as the way to fight the virus.

Like US President Donald Trump, whom he admires, Bolsonaro touts the drug as a remedy for the virus, despite a slate of scientific studies finding it has no effect against COVID-19 and can cause serious side effects.

After testing positive for the virus, the Brazilian leader took hydroxychloroquine himself, regularly showing off his box of pills.

Bolsonaro is currently on his third health minister of the pandemic, an active-duty army general with no prior medical experience.

The interim minister’s two predecessors, both doctors, left after clashing with Bolsonaro, including over his insistence the health ministry recommend hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, most states have begun relaxing their stay-at-home measures, encouraged by the fact the number of infections finally appears to have reached a plateau.

But Brazil’s infection curve has flattened at a very high level of daily cases, and experts warn it is still too soon to exit lockdowns in many places.

Source: AFP

Brazil has become the country with the third-highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world, after registering a total of more than 250,000 cases.

Only the US and Russia have recorded more infections.

Experts say insufficient testing might mean that the real figure in Brazil could be 15 times higher.

The country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has dismissed the risks and compared Covid-19 to “a little flu”.

His handling of the outbreak – which has included calls for lockdowns imposed by state governors to be lifted – has led to criticism and the resignation of Health Minister Nelson Teich last week.

Mr Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Mandetta, was sacked by President Bolsonaro after the two men disagreed over social distancing measures.

But Mr Bolsonaro’s focus on minimising economic disruption has been welcomed by many. Supporters who have organised anti-lockdown rallies, some of which the president attended.

How bad is the situation in Brazil?

Brazil now has more than a quarter of a million confirmed cases. More than 16,000 Covid-19 patients have died, the sixth-highest death toll in the world.

The health system of its largest city, São Paulo, could collapse within two weeks, Mayor Bruno Covas has warned.

The city has a population of about 12 million, and official say show most residents are ignoring social distancing rules. More than 3,000 people have died with the virus in São Paulo.

But it is not only urban centres that have been badly hit. Amazonas state had almost 21,000 confirmed cases as of Monday.

Health services in Manaus, the state capital, have been overwhelmed and mass graves are being used to bury the dead.

How is President Bolsonaro handling the crisis?

Mr Bolsonaro continues to oppose lockdown measures, arguing that they will wreck the economy.

In March he made a speech calling on mayors and governors to roll back restrictions: “Our lives have to go on. Jobs must be kept. We must get back to normal.”

The president described the closures of businesses and schools, together with restrictions on public transport, as “scorched-earth” policies.

Despite the rapidly rising infection rate, Mr Bolsonaro argued that most people, including himself, had nothing to fear from the virus.

“With my history as an athlete, if I were infected with the virus I would have no reason to worry. I would feel nothing, or it would be at most just a little flu,” he said.

Source: bbc.com

The mayor of Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, has said its health system could collapse as demand grows for emergency beds to deal with coronavirus cases.

Bruno Covas said the city’s public hospitals had reached 90% and could run out of space in about two weeks.

São Paulo is one of the country’s worst-hit regions, with almost 3,000 deaths so far.

On Saturday, Brazil overtook Spain and Italy to become the nation with the fourth-largest number of infections.

The health ministry reported 7,938 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total above 241,000. Only the US, Russia and the UK have higher numbers.

The death toll in the Latin American nation over 24 hours was 485, meaning that the total number of deaths is 16,118 – the world’s fifth-highest figure.

Health experts in Brazil have warned that the real number of confirmed infections in the country may be far higher than the official records, due to a lack of testing.

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been strongly criticised both at home and abroad for his handling of the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis.

He defied global health advice on social distancing on Sunday when he posed for photographs with supporters and children in the capital, Brasília.

What did São Paulo’s mayor say?

Mr Covas said he was now in crisis talks with the state governor over introducing a strict lockdown to try to slow the contagion before hospitals were overwhelmed.

The governor of São Paulo state controls the police, and his support will be essential if a lockdown is to succeed.

São Paulo has the population of about 12 million, and official figures show that the majority of residents have been flouting social distancing rules.

Source: bbc.com

Brazil has overtaken Spain and Italy to become the country with the fourth largest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world.

Officials on Saturday reported 14,919 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 233,142. Only the US, Russia and the UK have higher numbers.

The daily death toll in the Latin American nation rose by 816 to 15,633 – the world’s fifth highest.

Experts warn that the real figure may be far higher due to a lack of testing.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been strongly criticised both at home and abroad for his handling of the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis.

The far-right president continues to oppose lockdown measures. He has downplayed the virus as “a little flu” and has said the spread of Covid-19 is inevitable.

Last week, Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned after less than a month in the job. Mr Teich stepped down after he had publicly criticised a decree by Mr Bolsonaro allowing gyms and beauty parlours to reopen.

Mr Teich’s predecessor was sacked after disagreeing with Mr Bolsonaro.

Source: bbc.com

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has come under criticism for joining protesters demanding that restrictions on movement introduced to stop the spread of coronavirus be lifted.

Mr Bolsonaro has clashed in recent weeks with state governors who have imposed lockdowns, denouncing the measures as “dictatorial”.

As of Sunday, Brazil had more than 38,000 confirmed cases, the highest number in Latin America.

More than 2,400 people there have died.

President Bolsonaro addressed a crowd of a few hundred supporters outside army headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, on Sunday.

He said the protesters were “patriots” for defending individual freedoms.

As well as demanding an end to the lockdown, some of those attending the rally also held up signs calling for Brazil’s Congress and the Supreme Court to be closed down.

Others said they wanted the military to take over the handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Brazil was under military rule for more than two decades from 1964 until 1985 and calls for the armed forces to be given more power are highly controversial.

While the president did not make any reference to those demands at the time, his appearance at the rally – at which people were calling for the closure of the country’s democratic institutions – was labeled “provocative” by his critics.

On Monday, however, while talking to journalists, Mr Bolsonaro quickly responded to one of his supporters who called for the closure of the Supreme Court by stating that Brazil was a democratic country. He said that the nation’s top court, as well as Congress, would remain open.

Journalists have noted that at Sunday’s rally the president neither wore a face mask, even though he coughed on occasion, nor gloves – precautions which many other politicians in the region are taking.

He has in the past dismissed coronavirus as “little more than a flu”.

Rodrigo Maia, the speaker of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and a critic of Mr Bolsonaro, tweeted that “the whole world is united against coronavirus, but in Brazil we have to fight the coronavirus and the virus of authoritarianism”.

“In the name of the Chamber of Deputies, I reject any and all acts which defend the dictatorship,” he added.

Relations between the president on the one hand and Congress and the Supreme Court on the other have been tense, with Mr Bolsonaro claiming they are trying to curtail his powers and even oust him.

Last week, the president sacked his health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who had backed the lockdown measures.

President Bolsonaro argues that the lockdown measures are damaging the economy and has argued that they should be eased and Brazil’s borders reopened.

Source: bbc.com

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced the suspension of all national football competitions for an indefinite period, with president Rogerio Caboclo vowing to help fight the spread of coronavirus in Brazil.

The announcement came in the wake of FIFA’s postponement of South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, which were scheduled for March 26 31, and affected all national competitions currently in progress and under the CBF’s supervision.

A statement on the CBF’s official website explained that state football federations would have autonomy over their own competitions but underlined the importance of a coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Brazilian Football Confederation [CBF] decided to suspend, from this Monday, March 16, for an indefinite period, the national competitions under its coordination that are in progress: Copa do Brasil, Brazilian Women’s Championships A1 and A2, Championship Brazilian U-17 and Copa do Brasil U-20,” the statement said.

“CBF will remain in permanent contact with the Ministry of Health, joining efforts so that the country and the sport overcome the great challenge in relation to the pandemic, hoping that, as soon as possible, we can return to normality.”

The statement quoted Caboclo as saying: “We know and assume the responsibility of football in the fight against the expansion of COVID-19 in Brazil.”

Brazil follows the lead of most nations around the world in suspending their football competitions in an effort to combat the coronavirus.
Australia however declared on Monday that football in the country will continue with the A-League and W-League to be played behind closed doors.

“The scale of football means that we have a key role to play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of Australians, as well as their families and the wider community,” FFA CEO James Johnson said, with Australia’s football governing body to review the situation for the upcoming finals series.

“We are doing so by allowing people to play, in line with the current government position but with additional guidance to further improve social distancing at football fields around the country.

“We have been working closely with our stakeholders, government health officials and our own chief medical officer to develop our policies for the whole of the game following the COVID-19 outbreak. The situation is subject to constant change, and further measures may be necessary in the future.

“The decision to play the remainder of the Hyundai A-League 2019-20 season, and the Westfield W-League 2020 Grand Final behind closed doors was made in consultation with the clubs and in accordance with the latest federal government advice.”

Source: Goal.com