The World Health Organization has highlighted that Brazil presents an alarming situation, and remains the second country in the world with the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 and the third regarding the amount of infected people.  For several weeks, this country has shown critical records, with an average death toll of 1,500 per day.

However, experts warn that this figure could increase to 3,000 a day if the government fails to implement the appropriate measures to stop contagion.

World health authorities also noted that the situation in Brazil has a significant impact on all neighboring countries beyond Latin America and the Caribbean.

The dismal figures, however, do not seem to affect President Jair Bolsonaro, who refuses to take actions that might limit even more social standards.

Bolsonaro’s approach to the pandemic has defied confinement measures, social distancing and the use of masks, and as a result, local governments have adopted their own regulations, in an attempt to curb infections.

The Brazilian president has criticized the limitation of economic activities imposed by governors and mayors, endorsed however by the Supreme Court which last year ruled that such measures are to be decided by local authorities.

But Bolsonaro has been more focused on the economy, failing to understand that, as experts say, if public health is collapsed, so will be the economy.

Indeed, in several Brazilian states, hospitals range from between 70 and 100 % capacity, and there’s no visible improvement of this current scenario, now aggravated by the detection of the so-called P1 strain, discovered for the first time in Manaus.  This is qualified as highly infectious and has already been detected in other countries.

Brazil is now facing the worst phase of the pandemic, and in the meantime, Bolsonaro has once again ruled out necessary measures such as house confinement, and has verbally attacked those who demand more vaccines and really effective measures.