For the first time, Brazil’s average of new daily deaths tops the 1,200 mark

According to the Brazilian Health Ministry’s latest update, the country confirmed 721 new coronavirus-related deaths on February 28. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the country’s seven-day rolling average of new daily deaths topped the 1,200 mark.

With 1,204 deaths per 1 million inhabitants, Brazil is the country with the 22nd worst coronavirus death rate globally. However, experts agree that official tallies — according to which 255,000 Brazilians died of Covid-19 — highly underestimate the crisis. A lack of testing data has plagued Brazil’s pandemic response.

As the crisis reaches its worst point to date, President Jair Bolsonaro started to spread falsehoods about the alleged side effects of using face masks. Citing an unnamed “German study,” he listed a series of undesired effects such as “irritability, headaches, lack of concentration, feelings of unhappiness, refusal to attend school, lethargy, learning disabilities, vertigo, and fatigue.”

Health experts say the evidence is clear that masks can help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better.

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