Al Jazeera News :
Brazil, in the grip of the world’s second-most deadly outbreak of the coronavirus, has recorded more than five million cases of the disease and experts worry the country could be facing a second wave of the outbreak even before the first has been brought under control.
Brazil’s health ministry said on Wednesday it had recorded 31,553 new cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 5,000,694 cases, behind the United States and India.
The latest data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the country’s official death toll at 148,228 – second only to the United States, although health experts say the actual number of fatalities is likely to be higher.
The latest rolling daily average of fatalities was 658 a day, down from 1,073 in the last week of July. The average of new cases has also dropped – down to 26,140 a day – almost half the level of late July.
Although the number of daily cases has come down, public health experts warn that people in Brazil are increasingly ignoring social-distancing restrictions which is raising the risk of a second wave.
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro epidemiologist Roberto Medronho cautioned that the numbers could be much higher if testing for COVID-19 was more widespread.
“We are seeing the authorities easing social distancing more and more despite the number of cases,” he told the Reuters news agency.
The fall in the number of cases also “isn’t yet sustained,” said University of Brasilia epidemiologist Mauro Sanchez.
Brazil, in the grip of the world’s second-most deadly outbreak of the coronavirus, has recorded more than five million cases of the disease and experts worry the country could be facing a second wave of the outbreak even before the first has been brought under control.
Brazil’s health ministry said on Wednesday it had recorded 31,553 new cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 5,000,694 cases, behind the United States and India.
The latest data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the country’s official death toll at 148,228 – second only to the United States, although health experts say the actual number of fatalities is likely to be higher.
The latest rolling daily average of fatalities was 658 a day, down from 1,073 in the last week of July. The average of new cases has also dropped – down to 26,140 a day – almost half the level of late July.
Although the number of daily cases has come down, public health experts warn that people in Brazil are increasingly ignoring social-distancing restrictions which is raising the risk of a second wave.
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro epidemiologist Roberto Medronho cautioned that the numbers could be much higher if testing for COVID-19 was more widespread.
“We are seeing the authorities easing social distancing more and more despite the number of cases,” he told the Reuters news agency.
The fall in the number of cases also “isn’t yet sustained,” said University of Brasilia epidemiologist Mauro Sanchez.
