Today, we cover the rising number of coronavirus cases in the Amazon. The disenchantment of markets with Jair Bolsonaro. The president’s son called a corrupt “ringleader.” And the possible end of Brazil’s IPO frenzy.
Amazon coronavirus herd immunity hopes at risk as cases rise
Last week, a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study published on medical platform MedRxiv suggested that the Brazilian city of Manaus — the biggest in the Amazon, and Brazil’s first to experience a full-scale healthcare collapse in the country — had reached the level of so-called “herd immunity” against Covid-19. University of São Paulo researchers reached that conclusion by combining data of decreasing deaths with an analysis of locals’ blood samples — estimating that up to 66 percent of residents had developed coronavirus antibodies.
- Now, however, cases are rising once more, challenging the researchers’ conclusion. Infectious disease experts have identified a surge in cases among younger, wealthier populations.
Coronavirus in the Amazon. Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon, is a textbook example of what happens when the coronavirus is allowed to spread unchecked. The city never imposed lockdowns, and most people and businesses simply ignored social-distancing rules. At one point, the city was left without any available hospital beds, nor...