With hospitals in collapse, Manaus could become Brazil’s Guayaquil

On April 19, The Brazilian Report highlighted the dramatic situation in the public health system of Manaus, the urban island in the middle of the rainforest and capital of Amazonas state. Startling video footage was disclosed by news website UOL, showing panic at hospitals around the city. Fear spread that Manaus could soon become “Brazil’s Guayaquil,” in reference to the Ecuadorian city where the Covid-19 spike caused literal queues of dead bodies in the streets.

These concerns are becoming more and more valid, with even more shocking footage surfacing from the Amazonas capital, including a video depicting a Covid-19 patient in Manaus using a plastic bag to breathe due to a lack of proper intensive care equipment. The patient in question was later transferred to a private hospital, but another 63-year-old patient died after waiting four days for an ICU bed. 

With the state...