Coronavirus

São Paulo: virus moving away from the big city, taking hold in the interior

São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city with 12.18 million inhabitants, was one of the first parts of the country to feel the full brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it now appears that the problem is shifting away from the bustling metropolis and moving to the interior of the state.

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the total number of cases in the remainder of São Paulo state has tied that of the city, with 166,000 infections each.

Though still far from returning to normality, the city of São Paulo is seeing a stabilization of its total number of new cases and deaths. Bars, restaurants, gyms, and parks have reopened, though attendance is still low.

Health authorities now fear that the virus is spreading to the interior of the state — Brazil’s most populous, with well over 20 million people living outside of Greater São Paulo. 

Nevertheless, the latest figures released by São Paulo’s Regional Development Secretary Marco Vinholi suggest a new uptick in Covid-19 cases in the state capital. In the last week, deaths have fallen 4.2 percent but new cases have risen 2.6 percent, potentially due to the city’s ongoing reopening process

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Rafael Lima

Rafael is a Communication student at Wake Forest University, and a student fellow of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

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