Coronavirus

Coronavirus: Brazil tops 150,000-death mark

deaths

Brazil has become just the second country in the world to break the mark of 150,000 coronavirus deaths, according to the Health Ministry. Only the U.S. has confirmed more Covid-19 casualties.

Latin America’s biggest country has received international criticism for its handling of the pandemic. President Jair Bolsonaro has been one of the world’s biggest denialists — despite having contracted the virus himself — and the Brazilian Health Ministry is headed by an Army general specialized in logistics, with no experience in the field of health. 

Just this week, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello says he didn’t know what Brazil’s public health system (SUS) was before taking the job. “I spent my life using Army [healthcare] institutions. I came to know the SUS now, and understood the magnitude of this system,” he said.

Brazil alone accounts for 52 percent of all coronavirus cases in Latin America. All other countries combine for 4.8 million infections — while Brazil has already broken the 5-million mark.

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