BRAZIL PASSES 600,000 DEATHS; 12,000 CHILDREN ORPHANED BY PANDEMIC

Sat 09 October 2021:

In Brazil, deaths have topped 600,000, according to government data released on Friday. Despite this, bars in the country’s financial center, Sao Paulo, are full again, as social distancing is no more.

So far the country has not faced the predicted destruction of another wave from the delta varient. The country’s average daily death toll has hovered around 500 for a month, down sharply from more than 3,000 in April.

The first case was registered in March 2020. Since then, 600,077 people have died from the disease.

The data was released by the Press Consortium, a group of media outlets that collects numbers from states’ health departments since the Health Ministry changed its counting system to hide figures.

The Ministry said 600,425 deaths have been recorded.

Brazil registered 21,533,752 cases but those numbers are considered lower than the actual figure since the country has not adopted an effective policy for testing its population.

Experts point to underreporting in the numbers of deaths and cases.

One of the most terrifying numbers released Friday is that at least 12,211 children up to age 6 have been orphaned by the pandemic — boys and girls who lost their fathers, mothers or both to the virus, according to an association that gathers information form notary offices across the country.

The survey only took into account children in that age group because since 2015, newborns have had their document number registered on their birth certificate, which facilitated the crossing of information with deceased parents’ documents. The actual number, therefore, could be much higher, according to the association.

On average, 438 daily deaths are currently registered, which represents an 18.1% drop compared to 14 days ago and the lowest number since November 2020.

Experts attribute it to the more optimistic scenario to the advancement of vaccination but the delta variant is still a concern, they said.

Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil’s Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials. He believes authorities are taking a risk by reopening too much and announcing celebrations, and that Brazil may soon see more hospital admissions.

“The pandemic has waned, but 500 deaths per day is far from good. And we don’t even have half the population fully vaccinated,” Lago said. “We just don’t know enough and we have this horrific milestone to contemplate now.”

Marcelo Queiroga, Brazil’s fourth health minister since the pandemic hit, suggested in a press conference on Friday that masks should not be mandatory. “Why would I pass a law to force people to use condoms? Don’t even think of it,” he said.

Rio’s mayor has announced plans to bring back the city’s massive New Year’s Eve party on Copacabana beach.

Started in January, vaccination has reached 71.8% of the population with the first dose and 45.6% with the full immunization cycle. Less than 1% have received a booster.

Brazil is ranked third with the highest daily average of new deaths in the world, behind the US and Russia. It is also second with more deaths, after the US, which has surpassed 700,000 victims.

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