Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Brazil's death toll surges past 25,000 as economy falters

It has world's second-most cases, after US; President pins hopes on drug Trump touted

A government medical worker, in a joint operation with military police, checking the temperature of a passenger on a boat in Brazil's Para state earlier this week. Most state governments in the country have stuck to the World Health Organisation's gu
A government medical worker, in a joint operation with military police, checking the temperature of a passenger on a boat in Brazil's Para state earlier this week. Most state governments in the country have stuck to the World Health Organisation's guidance and closed non-essential businesses. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

RIO DE JANEIRO • Brazil's death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 25,000, with the country emerging as the latest epicentre in the global outbreak.

The Health Ministry said on Wednesday it had confirmed 1,086 new deaths in the past 24 hours. It was the fifth time the number exceeded 1,000 since the crisis accelerated in Brazil a week ago.

That took the nationwide death toll to 25,598, the sixth-highest in the world.

The country of 210 million people now has 411,821 confirmed cases of the virus, second only to the United States. Experts say under-testing means the real figures are probably much higher.

President Jair Bolsonaro is facing mounting criticism over his response to the health crisis.

The far-right leader has downplayed the seriousness of the virus and railed against stay-at-home measures, arguing that the economic fallout risks causing more damage than the virus itself.

"The so-called second wave is coming: recession. It will affect everyone, without exception," he wrote on Facebook.

But most state governments have stuck to the World Health Organisation's (WHO) guidance and closed non-essential businesses.

Sao Paulo, the country's industrial hub and hardest-hit state, extended its stay-at-home on Wednesday until June 15, though Governor Joao Doria announced a gradual reopening of "some activities" would be allowed from June 1.

Mr Bolsonaro has, meanwhile, pinned his hopes on the medication hydroxychloroquine which - like US President Donald Trump - he has touted as a potential wonder drug against Covid-19.

Brazil's Health Ministry recommends that doctors in the public health system prescribe hydroxychloroquine or a related drug, chloroquine, from the onset of Covid-19 symptoms. It said on Monday it stood by that guideline, despite the WHO ending clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine over concerns about its safety and effectiveness against the coronavirus.

Brazil is facing the crisis with an interim health minister, army general Eduardo Pazuello - the third person to hold the post in a month.

His predecessor quit, reportedly because he disagreed with Mr Bolsonaro on hydroxychloroquine. The President had fired the previous health minister, after clashing over responses to the pandemic.

Mr Bolsonaro is also taking flak after after President Trump imposed a travel ban on non-US citizens from the South American country.

"Even the US - whose President's boots he licks - has banned the entry of Brazilians," Mr Valmir Assuncao, a congressman from the left-wing Workers' Party, tweeted.

"Is Bolsonaro going to keep marching around with the American flag now?" Communist Party lawmaker Alice Portugal tweeted.

The local newspaper Estado de Minas used the headline, "The US to Brazil: Stay at your own home", on its front page, alongside an image of Mr Bolsonaro's supporters holding a US flag.

Separately, hospitals are dangerously close to the breaking point in the hardest-hit areas, and the outbreak is not expected to peak in Brazil until next month.

"We are particularly concerned that the number of new cases reported last week in Brazil was the highest for a seven-day period since the outbreak began," Dr Carissa Etienne, director of the Washington-based Pan American Health Organisation, said on Tuesday.

One of the country's best-known doctors, the neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis, has called it "the worst war Brazil has ever faced".

"We never had an event like this. We never lost 25,000 people in a span of three months," Dr Nicolelis, who is coordinating the virus response in the impoverished and hard-hit north-east, said.

"We never got invaded in our history, but I'm referring to this virus as an invasion. It came like an invading army, and it's invading the whole of the country."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 29, 2020, with the headline Coronavirus: Brazil's death toll surges past 25,000 as economy falters. Subscribe