Coronavirus

⚠️ UPDATE: Covid-19 deaths top 1,000 for first time

The latest coronavirus update released by the Brazilian Health Ministry shows that Covid-19 deaths topped 1,000 for the first time — totaling 1,057 confirmed victims in the country. The number of confirmed cases also jumped from 17,857 to 19,638 over the past 24 hours. Worldwide, the number of deaths has surpassed 100,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE). As of now, nearly 1.7 million have been infected around the world and over 370,000 have recovered.

São Paulo — Brazil’s most-populated state — concentrates 8,216 cases and 540 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro (2,464 cases, 147 deaths).

The Health Ministry informs a 5.4-percent lethality rate, although this number means little. Due to a  lack of massive testing in Brazil, the true number of Covid-19 cases and deaths is probably highly underreported. Moreover, the Health Ministry’s official figures show a certain delay, due to the time it takes to process diagnoses and the elevated demand for tests. One infectious disease specialist consulted by The Brazilian Report affirmed that the ministry’s official data “shows a snapshot of what the situation was like one or two weeks ago,” meaning that the current death toll is likely to be much higher.

Augusta Saraiva

Augusta is a Brazilian journalism student at Northwestern University

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