Relatives attend the burial service of a person who died from complications related to COVID-19, at the Vila Formosa cemetery, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, March 11.
Hospitals in Brazil’s main cities are reaching capacity, health officials have warned, as the country recorded the world’s highest COVID-19 death toll over the past week, triggering tighter restrictions Thursday in its most populous state.
Intensive care wards for treating COVID-19 patients have reached critical occupancy levels over 90% in 15 of 27 state capitals, according to biomedical center Fiocruz.
The Health Ministry reported Wednesday a record 2,286 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, as new infections rose by 79,876.
With more than 270,000 deaths, Brazil’s pandemic death toll over the past year trails only the United States. But over the past week, Brazil has averaged more than 1,600 deaths per day, ahead of some 1,400 in the United States, where the outbreak has ebbed.
As President Jair Bolsonaro rails against lockdowns and urges Brazilians out of their homes, governors and mayors have struggled to enforce restrictions, often pleading in vain with a population inured to the rising tide of the epidemic.
Brazil’s two most populous cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, moved Thursday to tighten measures as their hospitals struggled with a second wave of the virus, spurred by a more contagious variant that emerged in the Amazon region.
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