Coronavirus

Fast running out of ICU beds, Ceará reaches 1,000 deaths

Fast running out of ICU beds, Ceará reaches 1,000 deaths
Photo: GOV-CE

The latest update by the Health Ministry reveals that the northeastern state of Ceará has 5,879 total confirmed infections and 1,062 deaths. With 116 deaths per 1 million people, the state also has the second-highest lethality rate in the country, second only to Amazonas.

The high numbers, however, doesn’t necessarily mean the outbreak is worse in Ceará. The fact is that the state has performed more tests per 1 million inhabitants than any other state with a population of over 5 million people. The state of Minas Gerais, for instance, has only 3,123 cases so far — but has left almost 100,000 suspected patients untested.

Ceará already has an intensive care unit occupancy rate of more than 90 percent, leading Governor Camilo Santana to implement stricter social isolation measures beginning last Friday. Early in May, the state government announced it would file a libel lawsuit against a pro-Bolsonaro congresswoman who accused Mr. Santana of lying about the Covid-19 numbers and burying empty coffins to exaggerate the extent of the outbreak in Ceará.