16th of January, 2021.
Last updated: January 17, 2021 at 12:00 pmCOVID-19 has hit Brazil hard. After the United States and India, it is the third most affected country in the world, and it has been dubbed the epicenter of the virus in South America.
Proportionally speaking, COVID-19 has been spreading faster in the United States than in any other country of the world. For example, the United States has a population of 328 million while Brazil has 211 million people. As of yesterday (15th of January, 2021), the United States has recorded a cumulative total of 24.1 million COVID-19 infections and Brazil a cumulative total of 8.3 million. That means that an estimated 1 in every 13 persons has been (at some point in time) infected with COVID-19 in the United States while an estimated 1 in every 25 persons has been infected (at some point in time) in Brazil. In India, an estimated 1 in every 123 persons has been infected if the records are reliable.
However, the fact remains that more testing is being carried out in the United States than in Brazil, and Brazil’s actual infection rate may be much higher than is being reported. In fact, experts have asserted that you need to multiply the number recorded cases in Brazil by ten to get the actual estimated figure of COVID-19 infections in Brazil. The hardest hit region of Brazil is the state of Amazonas of which Manaus is the capital with a cumulative total over 226,000 cases and 6000 + COVID-19 related deaths as of January 15, 2021.
The good news is that most COVID-19 cases have recovered, but the lasting effects of those who died are still devastating on both a personal and national level.
Take a look at the video below which was recorded live in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil on the 15th of January, 2021 at a Hospital called 28 de Agosto. It shows ambulances with their lights on, drivers at the wheel ready to rush patients to other hospitals because this one has run out of space.
The narrator in the video above is at Hospital 28 de Agosto in Manaus, Amazonas. He says that the health system in Manaus is in a state of collapse due to an overflow of COVID-19 patients, a lack of space, a lack of manpower and even shortage of oxygen. He is pleading with all listeners to stop being stubborn and help fight the COVID-19 pandemic by adhering to protocols such as wearing masks and sanitizing hands often.
“You don’t like wearing mask, wear them! You don’t like sanitizing your hands sanitize them!” he pleads with viewers. “Look at me, I’m wearing a mask as I talk to you.”
After all the hospitals will have been exhausted in the state of Amazonas, the ambulances are ready to rush off with incoming patients to the neighboring state of Maranhao.
Here’s another video on the COVID-19 situation in Manaus, Amazonas Brazil. At the start of this video, the woman in blue jeans walks up crying and saying, “She was OK! She was OK when I spoke to her! But now they cut off….” (cut off her oxygen??). The woman in the black vest is saying, “Where is the oxygen? Where is the oxygen that they said is arriving here? Help us. People are dying. This isn’t a game. We need help, we need oxygen. All you who are watching, don’t just sit there in your sofa because your family is OK. Get up and help us out here. Now is the time to help your neighbors!”
Now look at this video which shows people rushing into the hospital with oxygen which had just arrived to help save critical patients.
What’s worse is that a new strain of the COVID-19 virus which spreads faster than the original COVID-19 virus has been detected in Brazil. This has prompted several countries, including the UK, to close travel with Brazil. Neighboring countries such as Guyana are on high alert even though borders remain closed.
Medical personnel in the city of Manaus are reported to be tired, drained, exhausted and at their wits’ end as they battle around the clock to treat COVID-19 and other patients.
