Is Brazil’s healthcare system prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic?

Brazil’s Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta declared this week that Brazil is entering the stage of having local transmission of the novel coronavirus, predicting “some harsh 20 weeks ahead.” During that stretch, infection numbers will balloon and, according to projections based on the novel coronavirus’ path in countries such as China, Italy, or Spain, they could go from around 150 to 30,000 by April 1. And within the next four months, the state of São Paulo alone could have over 45,000 people infected. When addressing the nation on Thursday night, President Jair Bolsonaro said the number of Covid-19 cases would rise fast—and that the public healthcare system had a limit of patients it could help at any given moment.

Created in 1988 and fully implemented in 1996, the Unified National Health System (SUS) reaches about 70 percent of the Brazilian population. Now, the public healthcare apparatus faces perhaps its biggest challenge to date. The Brazilian Association of Intensive Care Medicine, however, says SUS meets World Health Organization (WHO) standards—of 1 to 3 beds per 10,000 inhabitants.

Data shows, however, that this is hardly the case in every state—especially without throwing the private healthcare network into the mix. Only in the states of Minas Gerais and Paraná does the public system meet the WHO standards of ICU beds for every 10,000 citizens. Meanwhile, in the North and Northeast regions, the rate can be as low as 0.14 beds per 10,000 people.

“Brazil has the largest health system...