The average number of coronavirus cases in Brazil is a record for the fifth day in a row

Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic in the world, registered 157,393 cases of covid in the last 24 hours, bringing the average number of infections in the last week to 133,350 daily and setting a new record for the fifth day in a row, Official sources reported this Saturday.

The average number of infections, driven by the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the Latin American giant, has been setting consecutive records since last Tuesday, when it stood at 83,205 cases per day.

Since then it has grown to an average of almost 15,000 infections per day, reaching 133,350 daily cases this Saturday, almost double the average recorded at the worst moments of the second wave of the pandemic, on June 23 last year. , when Brazil recorded 77,328 new infections per day.

The arrival of the omicron in the country and its rapid spread caused the average number of infections to multiply by 43 in the last month (a jump of 4,215%), from 3,090 cases per day on December 23 to 133,350 daily infections this Saturday.

According to particular studies, the omicron not only caused a huge jump in the average number of daily cases, but also became the hegemonic variant in Brazil in one month, already being responsible for more than 95% of new infections throughout the country. country.

Despite the record average for the fifth day in a row, the number of new infections fell from 204,854 registered on Wednesday to 168,495 on Thursday, 166,539 on Friday and 157,393 this Saturday, respectively the four largest since the start of the pandemic.

According to the bulletin released this Saturday by the Ministry of Health, in addition to the 157,393 new cases, Brazil registered 238 new deaths from covid in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 622,801 and the number of infections to 23,909,175 since start of the pandemic, in February 2020.

These accumulated figures confirm Brazil as the second country in the number of deaths from covid in the world after the United States and as the third in infections after the US and India.

The numbers for this Saturday may be much higher than those officially disclosed because three states, including Sao Paulo, the most populous in Brazil and the most affected by the pandemic, failed to update their figures in the computer systems of the Ministry of Health.

In addition, the statistics are generally lower during the weekends due to the lower number of officials processing the data in each of the states.

Despite the fact that in a smaller proportion than the cases, the number of deaths has also been growing in recent days driven by the omicron, with which the average number of victims reached 261 per day this Saturday, the highest in just over two months , since the one measured last November 19 (268 daily deaths).

Before the arrival of the omicron, Brazil had managed to reduce the number of deaths and cases from covid to its lowest in 20 months, since last December the figures were almost at the same levels as at the start of the pandemic.

This reduction was attributed to the progress of the vaccination campaign, which allowed that until this Saturday at least 150.4 million Brazilians, 70.6% of the 213 million inhabitants of the country, have the complete cycle of immunization ( two doses or the single dose vaccine).