Experts say that Brazil is on the brink of 'total collapse' because of the national government’s refusal to implement basic health protocols and place under lockdowns areas that have high number of infections to stop the spread of the virus.
If Brazil is not under control, then the planet is not going to be safe, because we are brewing new variants every week... and they are going to cross borders
WITH Covid-19 deaths in Brazil reaching over 4,000 in a single day for the first time, and having a head of state that sidelines the gravity of the current health crisis, experts predict that the South American country is headed to total collapse.
According to official reports, several Brazilian states are already short of medical supplies such as oxygen and sedatives, while some hospitals are already accommodating patients beyond their expected capacity.
Alarmingly, many of the patients were reportedly dying while waiting to get proper treatment.
"Brazil now... is a threat to the entire effort of the international community to control the pandemic," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis in an interview with the BBC.
"If Brazil is not under control, then the planet is not going to be safe, because we are brewing new variants every week... and they are going to cross borders.”
Presently, Brazil has the second largest registered Covid-19 cases after the United States.
It has recorded over 13 million cases, more than 340,000 deaths, and had only vaccinated 8% of its population with at least one dose.
Anti-lockdown
Despite rising infections and calls for lockdowns, populist President Jair Bolsonaro publicly expresses his opposition to lockdowns arguing that it causes obesity and depression and such quarantine measures will damage Brazil’s economy.
"We will not accept the policy of staying at home, closing down business, lockdown. The virus, like others, came to stay and will stay. It is almost impossible to eradicate it," Bolsonaro said.
Moreover, an executive director in Brazil’s Institute for Health Policy Studies told the Associated Press that mayors and governors in the country are “politically prohibited from beefing up social distancing policies because they know supporters of the president, including business leaders, will sabotage them."
A stark reminder
In Europe, Slovakia had become the first country in the region to collapse due to a vaccine procurement controversy with Russia that forced Prime Minister Igor Matovic and his government to step down last week.
Other countries in Europe and Asia are also exhibiting signs of collapse as infections rose drastically in their respective borders due to new COVID-19 variants or because of their government’s poor pandemic response.
The hope—and prayer—is that the situation in Brazil will not become so severe that it turns into a gruesome reminder for the rest of the world of how grave this pandemic is, and how proper pandemic response from governments are vital.
The people of the world have suffered enough to face this additional struggle. (JT)
Tags: #foreign, #Brazil, #healthcarecrisis, #Covid19