Brasília hangs on court’s decision to loosen quarantine

Initially scheduled for last Friday, the reopening of non-essential businesses in the capital city of Brasília has been postponed at least until May 11. Federal courts, however, are considering pushing this date back even further. On Tuesday, multiple judicial bodies requested the opening of a joint lawsuit to prevent the local government from loosening social isolation measures. According to the petitioners, “there is no evidence to prove that Brasília has reached a level that allows for the transition” into a more flexible quarantine.

To facilitate the reopening of the economy, the government has announced additional sanitary measures in the capital. As of today, the use of face masks has become mandatory throughout Brasília. The city’s health system will also begin using plasma from Covid-19 survivors to treat new patients — a technique already in place in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

As one of the first centers of coronavirus infections in Brazil, Brasília currently has 1,275 confirmed cases and 28 deaths. The capital city’s lethality rate of 2.1 percent is among the lowest in the country — the national average is 7 percent.

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