Coronavirus

Covid hospitalizations tick up in São Paulo

Covid hospitalizations up São Paulo
Covid vaccination station at a subway station in São Paulo. Photo: Paulo Pinto/ABr

Covid hospitalizations are on the rise again in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state.

Data collected by the Info Tracker platform, created by São Paulo researchers from public universities, shows there were 896 people hospitalized with Covid or suspected Covid on October 3 — 11 percent more than seven days earlier, and almost 35 percent more than the 665 people hospitalized the Tuesday before that.

An online data panel organized by the state government shows a rolling average of 24.7 percent occupancy in the state’s ICU beds. The rate of occupancy is also affected by the total number of beds, which increased during the pandemic’s peaks.

A bulletin published by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a federal public health institute, showed last week that the rise in cases in São Paulo is seen most among those aged 50 or more. Researcher Marcelo Gomes said in a video that most of Brazil is in a “relatively comfortable situation,” with most states maintaining stability in cases of respiratory diseases.

A data panel maintained by the National Council of Health Secretariats (Conass) has counted an accumulated 705,962 deaths by Covid in Brazil since the start of the pandemic. About 12,000 of them — around 1.7 percent — happened this year, with mortality rates dropping dramatically after vaccination was introduced.