As the countries around the world cope with the coronavirus outbreak that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, the death toll in Brazil – which remains the worst-affected country in Latin America- has surged to 150,000, the health authorities confirmed on Saturday.
After the United States, Brazil has the second-highest death toll in the world and has the third-highest infections after India and the US. Earlier this week, the country also passed another grim milestone of five million total infections.
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- Latin America: Brazil Coronavirus Cases Surpass 2 Million Mark
- Coronavirus Cases in Brazil Surge To Five Million
Since Brazil recorded its first coronavirus-related death in March, a total of 150,198 people have died, and nearly 5,082,637 people have tested positive. Meanwhile, the state of São Paulo remains the worst-infected region in the country.
Furthermore, Colombia remains the second worst-hit country in Latin America, where there have been a total of 894,300 confirmed cases of coronavirus with nearly 7,495 fatalities. But in Brazil, the daily number of the confirmed infections is falling gradually since its summer peak, when there were more than 1,000 cases per day.
The President of Brazil, Blair Bolsonaro, has been accused by civil society and members of the opposition of downplaying the pandemic at its early stages, as well as ignoring the health advice by the top infectious disease experts. Moreover, his decision to oppose the social distancing measures and focus on reopening the economy has been divisive.
Bolsonaro often described the virus as “little flu.” But he has categorically denied all the allegations even when he was himself infected with the virus a few months ago.
Hamilton Mourão, the vice-president of the country, defended the government’s response to the pandemic outbreak, and instead blamed the people of the country, saying that they lack the discipline to limit the spread of coronavirus through social distancing measures.
