Brazil emerging as potentially next big hot spot as death toll worldwide tops 200,000

[Mike 03]

AP via Chicago Tribune (updates)
By ELENA BECATOROS, JILL LAWLESS AND NICK PERRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS |
APR 27, 2020 | 3:31 PM
| RIO DE JANEIRO

Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a "little flu” and that there is no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.

As some U.S. states and European countries moved gradually Monday to ease their limits on movement and commerce, the intensifying outbreak in Brazil — Latin America 's biggest country, with 211 million people — pushed hospitals to the breaking point, leaving victims to die at home.

“We have all the conditions here for the pandemic to become much more serious," said Paulo Brandão, a virologist at the University of Sao Paulo.

Brazil officially reported about 4,200 deaths and almost 62,000 confirmed infections, but the true numbers there, as in many other countries, are believed to be vastly higher, given the lack of testing and the many people without severe symptoms who haven’t sought hospital care.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-nw-coronavirus-world-updates-20200427-jqkoknes5faplf3rvwpibodcya-story.html

The Chicago Tribune has lifted its paywall for this story and other coronavirus coverage.

[NickB79]

1. It's hot and humid in Brazil

Not slowing COVID down much.