Brazil exceeds 23 million cases of COVID-19

Brazil this Sunday exceeded 23 million infections of COVID-19, of which 24,934 new cases and 74 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, with a halving of deaths and infections but still with data compilation problems, according to official figures.

Since the start of the pandemic, in February 2020, the country now has 23,000,657 confirmed cases and a total of 621,045 deaths, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the National Council of Secretaries of Health (Conass).

The number of infections was reduced this Sunday by 48.6% compared to those that occurred on Saturday (48,520), while the number of deaths fell by 57.7% compared to the 175 deaths reported the day before.

However, data collection by the Unified Health System (SUS) is still experiencing problems as a result of cyber attacks carried out by hackers at the end of last year on the platform of the Ministry of Health.

In addition, on weekends the figures are usually low due to the lack of personnel in some remote municipalities that only manage to consolidate the data on the following Monday or Tuesday.

In the nation of 213 million inhabitants, some 21.7 million patients have recovered, which represents 94.8% of the total infected.

Brazil, one of the three countries most affected by the pandemic in absolute numbers along with the United States and India, registers a mortality rate of 295.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants -the same as on Saturday- and an incidence of 10,945 infected people in the same proportion.

The average number of cases in the last week recorded by the Conass stood at 68,107 daily infections this Sunday, a slight 0.11% less than on Saturday, but it is still advanced compared to the December numbers, which were the most low of the last 20 months.

The average number of daily deaths in the last week stood at 152 deaths this Sunday, also with a moderate advance of 2.7% compared to what was on Saturday (148) and remaining among the lowest figures of the pandemic.

With the omicron variant as predominant, Brazil -according to an adjustment of the data from the Ministry of Health on this Sunday- has managed to supply 337.7 million vaccines against COVID-19 and inoculate with a complete cycle of two doses or with a single application to the 69.2% of its inhabitants.

The official start of the vaccination of minors between 5 and 11 years of age in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro -the 2 largest cities- is scheduled for this Monday, which was initiated formally in some regions on Friday.

The country also has diagnostic problems due to the lack of laboratory tests and it is expected that this week the Ministry of Health will resolve the situation with the purchase of new clinical tests.