Happy Monday, and welcome to 2022! We’re back and ready to work hard all year to bring you the sharpest analyses about Brazil, in what will certainly be a highly consequential year for the country and the surrounding region. This week, we lay out what you need to be looking forward to in 2022, and new worries about the health of President Jair Bolsonaro.
A crystal ball for 2022
The year now underway will be a pivotal one for Brazil. A third year of Covid, general elections, and desperate attempts to bring the economy back to life will make sure 2022 is anything but uneventful. Here are the key topics we will be keeping our eye on:
Pandemic: Brazil was spared from the ravaging effects the Delta variant had in many countries around the world, but the rise of Omicron raises new concerns. The new mutation has been found in eight Brazilian states and accounted for almost 70 percent of samples tested on December 25 — a week prior, Omicron samples were 40 percent of the total. The seven-day average of new daily deaths has remained below 200 for almost a month now, but cases have gone up for...