Six months after recording its first case of COVID-19, Brazil reached the threshold of 120,000 dead on Saturday and does not seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel of this massacre.
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Populated by 212 million inhabitants, the largest country in Latin America is the second most affected in the world after the United States (more than 180,000 deaths and nearly 6 million infections).
Unlike Europe and Asia, where the contaminations and deaths curves increased rapidly before falling after several weeks of confinement, Brazil seems stuck for three months in an endless plateau, with around 1,000 daily deaths on average and many disparities between regions.
“Brazil is unique in the world. Since the start of the pandemic, its curves have been different from those of other countries, they have been changing more slowly, ”Christovam Barcellos, researcher from Fiocruz, a benchmark public health institute, told AFP.
“The curves are stable now, but at a very dangerous level: around 1,000 deaths and 40,000 new confirmed cases per day. And the peak has not yet been reached, ”he said.
Knowing, moreover, that the official figures are considered largely underestimated by the scientific community.
The first case was confirmed on February 26: a Sao Paulo businessman returning from a trip to Italy. The first death was recorded on March 16.
At the time, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro castigated “hysteria” around a “little flu”.
And he continued to downplay the pandemic as the death toll grew, even throwing a “so what?” chilling when the threshold of 5,000 deaths was reached.
Himself contaminated by COVID-19 in July, he has never ceased to extol the merits of hydroxychloroquine, despite scientific studies proving its ineffectiveness against the virus.
He has not hesitated to accuse the governors of states that have taken containment measures that he considers more harmful than the virus as “dictators”.
Most specialists consider that the lack of cohesion of the public authorities is one of the main reasons why Brazil has not succeeded in reducing the rate of contamination.
“It’s terrible, there is a total lack of coordination on the part of the federal government, this is another characteristic of the pandemic in Brazil,” insists Christovam Barcellos.
Initially affecting the wealthiest people returning from trips abroad, the coronavirus then wreaked havoc on the most vulnerable populations, especially in the favelas, the overcrowded poor neighborhoods of large cities.
And in the Amazon rainforest, indigenous peoples, already decimated by diseases from outside in the past, have also paid a heavy price for Covid-19.
Despite chaotic handling of the pandemic, President Bolsonaro is more popular than ever.
Two weeks ago, a survey by the Datafolha institute credited him with 37% favorable opinions, five points more than in June. And 47% of those polled consider that he is not responsible for the deaths caused by the pandemic.
At the beginning of August, when Brazil was preparing to reach the symbolic threshold of 100,000 dead, he affirmed that he had a “clear conscience” of having done “everything possible”.
President Bolsonaro is particularly popular with the poorest Brazilians who receive allocations of 600 reais (around 93 euros) paid by the government to relieve the populations most affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.
“Bolsonaro is a real phenomenon, a political force that cannot be ignored,” admits Michael Mohallem, professor of law at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
“But his posture is really shocking. Beyond denial, he often disrespected the bereaved. As the death toll is shockingly high, he will undoubtedly pay the price one day, ”he concluded.
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