With 23,473 deaths and 374,898 positive cases officially recorded as of May 25, Brazil has become one of the new major outbreaks of the coronavirus. The symbolic barrier of 1,000 daily deaths was crossed on May 19 and the forecasts for the next few months are grim, as the healthcare system is saturated and President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to take strong measures to fight the pandemic.
The first case of SARS-CoV-2 was officially detected on February 25; the first death was on March 17. Since then, the epidemic has spread at an exponential rate. All the states of the Federation are today affected, to varying degrees. Its epicenter is located in Sao Paulo, which concentrates 22.5% of cases and 26.5% of deaths. But the epidemic is also hitting Rio de Janeiro, the northeastern states of Pernambuco or Ceara and that of the Amazonas, in the middle of the rainforest. The interior regions like Mato Grosso or the South are less affected, but it is difficult to have a global vision because of the obvious lack of tests.
Brazil initially had a big advantage with the universal health system (SUS). Created in 1988 at the end of the dictatorship (1964-1985), it theoretically supports all 210 million Brazilians. The organization is however chronically underfunded and overloaded, with huge disparities in terms of access to care according to regions, the southern states being much better provided with hospitals and respirators than those of north or north-east. In the country, half of the intensive care beds are in the private health sector, which has access to only one in four, able to afford a mutual.
For the British medical journal The Lancet, Jair Bolsonaro today represents the "Greatest threat to stem the epidemic in Brazil". Since the start of the health crisis, the president has systematically downplayed the seriousness of the Covid-19, described as "Dream", of"Hysteria" or from "Little flu". In fact, he repeatedly extended the list of activities considered essential, multiplied the crowd, facilitated the use of chloroquine, and pushed for the resignation two ministers of health, Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, between mid-April and mid-May.
Sources: H. Théry, "Covid-19 in Brazil: aggravants, scenarios and risks", Covidam: Covid-19 in the Americas, Institute of the Americas, April 24, 2020; covid.saude.gov.br; IBGE; Folha de S. Paulo ; The Lancet ; Imperial College of London; The world
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