Good morning! Today, the Omicron variant arrives in force in Brazil, beginning to disrupt daily life once again. Uncertainties about Brazil’s grain output for this year. Behind the country’s double-digit inflation.
Brazil begins to feel the Omicron pinch
Following worldwide trends, several Brazilian states have experienced an astonishing surge of coronavirus cases, with the new Omicron variant — first spotted in Brazil late in November — already accounting for 85 percent of new infections.
Omicron, by the numbers. The seven-day average of new daily cases has increased tenfold since December 27, according to available figures. However, data has been inconsistent ever since the Health Ministry’s servers were hacked on December 10 — meaning that the real impact could be far worse than Brazil is able to measure.
- In the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s most populated, the number of ICU hospitalizations jumped 91 percent over the past seven days.
- Demand for booster shots has also soared in multiple states, with almost 500,000 third doses being administered daily.
Why it matters. What is happening in Argentina — which has broken new records for daily infections — shows that millions of Brazilians could get sick within the next couple of months, even...