Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
Brazil has recorded more than 1,000 daily coronavirus deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward.
The federal health ministry on Thursday reported that the country had passed 2 million confirmed cases of virus infections and 76,000 deaths.
Experts blame denial of the virus’ deadly potential by President Jair Bolsonaro and lack of national coordination combined with scattershot responses by city and state governments, with some reopening earlier than health experts recommended.
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Brazil’s roughly 7,000 COVID-19 deaths in each of the last seven weeks is equal to several airplanes packed with Brazilians crashing every day, former health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta told The Associated Press.
Brazil’s nearly 2 million cases is second only to the United States and experts believe the number to be an under count due to widespread lack of testing.
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro had again tested positive for COVID-19
Earlier this month, Bolsonaro exercised his veto power to water down parts of a national law that would require the use of face masks on public transportation, in commercial and religious places and other enclosed public spaces.
Since his diagnosis on July 7, Bolsonaro has been confined to the presidential palace alongside other people that have already contracted the virus.
The number of deaths has been ebbing in states including Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas, where people were buried in mass graves in the capital, Manaus.
Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed coronavirus severity, saying strict social distancing measures that sacrifice jobs and income will ultimately be more harmful than the virus itself, and calling on supporters to encourage their local leaders to lift restrictions on activity. Many mayors and governors have struggled to hold the line.
Meanwhile, the overall number of global COVID-19 cases has topped 13.7 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 589,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
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