Society

Brazil loses USD 2.5 billion a year from Covid-19 deaths

A study from think tank Fundação Getúlio Vargas attempted to measure the wealth of human and financial capital lost in Brazil during the pandemic, with over 600,000 deaths

Brazil loses USD 2.5 billion a year from Covid-19 deaths
Rio’s Caju Cemetery was one of the many overburdened by the sheer amount of Covid deaths in 2020 and 2021. Photo: Jorge Hely Veiga/Shutterstock

At 34 years old, young Brazilian scientist Nilton Barreto dos Santos was studying how the coronavirus affects humans’ central nervous system. A part of one of the University of São Paulo’s most prestigious research teams, he was preparing for an internship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. This year, Nilton was infected by the very disease he was studying. He spent two months in intensive care and died in August.

Naomi Munataka, 64, was born in Hiroshima, Japan, just a few years after the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb. She moved to São Paulo with her family at the age of two and began studying music at age four. Naomi worked her way up to becoming the principal Maestra of the internationally renowned São Paulo Symphony Orchestra choir. She...

Don't miss this opportunity!

Interested in staying updated on Brazil and Latin America? Subscribe to start receiving our reports now!