1,954 deaths in 24 hours by Covid-19: Brazil reaches new record and surpasses the USA

With information from Folha de S. Paulo

SÃO PAULO – This Tuesday, 9, Brazil broke a new record in the number of deaths by covid-19. The country recorded 1,954 people killed in the past 24 hours, according to data collected by the media consortium. Até então, o maior número ocorria no último dia 3, quando ocorreram 1.840 óbitos pelo coronavírus. The brand is today the largest daily record in the world, surpassing the numbers of the United States.

The increase comes in the week when most states began to put in place more restrictive measures to control the proliferation of the disease. Tuesday’s figures, however, may include deaths and cases that were not counted over the weekend. This is because not all health departments pass the data on to the state government on Saturday and Sunday

The record was driven by increased contamination in the South and Southeast. São Paulo recorded 517 deaths from covid-19 this Tuesday, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. In these regions, Rio Grande do Sul was the second state with the most deaths, with 275, followed by Paraná (206), Santa Catarina (108), and Rio de Janeiro (95). Ceará and Bahia also had expressive numbers, with 108 and 103 deaths respectively.

The moving average of deaths was 1,575, as it represents the average of the last seven days. There were also 69,537 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours.

In total, the country had 268,568 deaths accumulated by the disease, with 11,125,017 cases. The data of the consortium, consisting of Estadão, G1, O Globo, Extra, Folha, and UOL, are collected from the state health departments.

The data also point to the country close to a collapse in the health system. In total, 25 of the 27 capitals in the country have occupancy rates of ICU beds for covid-19 equal to or greater than 80%. The situation is more serious in 16 capitals, including Brasília and Rio de Janeiro, where the percentages exceed 90%.

The information is from the Fiocruz Covid-19 Observatory, released late Tuesday afternoon, 9. The institution’s experts warned of the seriousness of the situation and the need to adopt more stringent traffic restriction measures.

According to the Ministry of Health, 9,843,218 people have recovered from covid-19 and another 1,010,841 are being monitored.