Explaining Brazil #141: Brazil’s pandemic nadir yet to come

It has been a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. But for Brazil, at least, the end of the crisis is nowhere in sight.

With new coronavirus variants circulating freely throughout the country, Brazilian states are inching closer to a simultaneous collapse. When that happens, Health Ministry officials believe the country could see up to 3,000 deaths on a daily basis. Despite the grim outlook, officials reportedly believe there is little the government can do, besides opening more field hospitals.

Brazil has become a warning to the rest of the world about the deadly potential of new variants, which add reinfection and co-infection (when patients catch multiple variants at the same time) to the list of challenges faced by health services.

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On this episode:

• Mauricio Savarese is a São Paulo-based journalist who covers Brazil for The Associated Press.

Background reading:

• Don’t miss our Covid-19 Live Blog.
• Listen to episode #135, in which we talk about what was then the beginning of Brazil’s second wave of coronavirus infections. With the surge of new variants, Covid-19 is becoming deadlier among young patients.
• Listen to episode #122, in which we explain how Latin America went on to become the world’s epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
• The coronavirus sparked a job crisis that will take years to solve, according to a recent international report.
• In this op-ed, columnist Beatriz Rey explains Congress’ shortcomings in holding President Jair Bolsonaro accountable for the coronavirus crisis. Just last week, newly-elected Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco promised the president “political stability” for the remainder of his term and dismissed the idea of a hearings committee to investigate the government’s pandemic response.
• A group of post-graduate researchers in mechatronic systems developed new face masks seemingly capable of blocking the coronavirus and rendering it inactive.

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• #pandemic
• #podcast
• #vaccine