SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil on Tuesday exceeded a 24-hour COVID-19 death toll exceeding 4,000 on Tuesday, becoming the third country to reach above the daily threshold.
Many governors, mayors and judges are reopening parts of the economy, despite the prevailing chaos in overcrowded hospitals and a collapsing health care system in various parts of the country.
The Brazilian health ministry said 4,195 deaths had been counted in the previous 24 hours, while the country’s pandemic was rapidly approaching 340,000, the second highest in the world. The US and Peru alone have more than 4,000 deaths daily.
Sao Paulo, the population of Brazil with 46 million inhabitants, has registered nearly 1,400 deaths in the last number of years. Health officials said the figure was partly due to the Easter holidays, which delayed the count.
Local authorities nationwide argue that the number of cases and hospitalizations is declining after a week of partial strike.
Miguel Lago, executive director of the Brazilian Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health advisers, said the reopening was a mistake he feared would even lead to deaths.
“The fact is that the story of President Jair Bolsonaro won against the closure,” Lago told The Associated Press. “Mayors and governors are politically banned from renouncing society because they know supporters of the president, including business leaders, will sabotage it.”
Bolsonaro, which has long underestimated the risks of the coronavirus, still remains against barriers as detrimental to the economy.
COVID-19 patients use more than 90% of the beds in the intensive care unit in most Brazilian states, although figures have been stable since last week. Yet hundreds are dying while waiting for care and basic supplies such as oxygen and sedatives are running out in several states.
Less than 3% of the 210 million people in Brazil have received both doses of coronavirus vaccines, according to Our World in Data, an online research website.
Over the weekend, judges of the Supreme Court in Brazil began a tug-of-war over the reopening of religious buildings, which have been closed by many local authorities, despite a federal government decision to label them as part of essential services.
Some churches welcomed their believers on Easter Sunday, but others were blocked by mayors and governors. Their reopening will be decided in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, but some local councils, such as Belo Horizonte, voted on Tuesday to keep religious buildings open.
A judge in Rio de Janeiro also allowed schools to reopen on Tuesday as Mayor Eduardo Paes wanted. Hours later, the mayors of Campinas and Sorocaba, two of the most populous cities in the state of Sao Paulo, agreed to reopen businesses with a purchasing system after a ten-day hiatus.
Professional football managers in Sao Paulo said they expect to play games this week after a 15-day hiatus, promising local prosecutors that they will follow stricter health protocols.