⁍ Brazil passed the mark of 5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
⁍ The number of daily cases has come down from a peak in July.
⁍ Public health experts warn that Brazil is ignoring social distancing precautions.
– The death toll from Brazil’s latest coronavirus outbreak rose to 148,228 on Wednesday, making it the country’s second-most-deadly outbreak outside the US, Reuters reports. According to the country’s Health Ministry, there are now 5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 5,000,694 cases and 734 deaths. The outbreak peaked in July, with 1,073 deaths per day in the last week of July. The rolling daily average for the last week of July was 658 deaths a day, down from 1,073 deaths per day in the last week of July. However, the number of new cases has dropped from an average of 1,073 per day in July to 26,140 per day last week. “Soon we will reach 150,000 deaths, a frightening number,” a Federal University of Rio de Janeiro epidemiologist tells Reuters. “We are seeing the authorities easing social distancing more and more despite the number of cases.” He warns that a second wave of the virus could be on the way. “I fear we’ll have a second wave like in Europe, which is a big concern for public health officials,” he says.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil/brazil-hits-5-million-covid-19-cases-epidemiologist-fears-second-wave-idUSKBN26S35M