Brazil registers nearly 100 Covid cases in 24 hours, and Fiocruz warns of ICU overcrowding.
Nine states have high occupancy levels, and four state capitals have more than 80% of their beds occupied.
Brazil of Fact - Brazil confirmed 97.986 new cases of coronavirus infections this Thursday (13), a scenario not seen since June of last year.
The rate of increase in infections has been steadily intensifying for more than three weeks, according to data from the National Council of Health Secretaries.
Since December 22nd, the moving average of infections has increased almost twentyfold. Before Christmas, the result of the calculation, which takes into account data from the last seven days, was around 3.
Now, the median exceeds 60,000. More than 620,000 people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 in Brazil. On Thursday, 174 deaths were recorded.
The actual numbers may be even higher, since the Ministry of Health's information system has been down for over a month, hindering record-keeping in the states. Furthermore, tests are beginning to run out in health centers, pharmacies, and laboratories.
In this scenario, ICU occupancy levels are increasing in at least nine states, with critical or intermediate alert levels for bed availability. In four capital cities, demand has already exceeded 80% of capacity.
The data was released in the bulletin of the Covid-19 Observatory, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). The document indicates that Pernambuco, with 82% of its beds occupied, is in the critical alert zone.
In an intermediate situation are Pará (71%), Tocantins (61%), Piauí (66%), Ceará (68%), Bahia (63%), Espírito Santo (71%), Goiás (67%) and the Federal District (74%).
Among the capital cities, the scenario is even more worrying. Fortaleza has 88% occupancy, Recife 80%. In the Southeast region, Belo Horizonte reached 84% capacity and in the Central-West, Goiânia reached 94%.
There are six cities on intermediate alert: Porto Velho (76%), Macapá (60%), Maceió (68%), Salvador (68%), Vitória (77%) and Brasília (74%) in the intermediate alert zone.
However, the report points out that the current ICU occupancy rate cannot be compared to the scenario observed in Brazil in the first half of 2021, the worst moment of the pandemic in the country so far. Hospitalizations are occurring at lower levels.
"Without minimizing concerns about the new phase of the pandemic, we consider it essential to reaffirm the idea that we have a different scenario with vaccination and the specific characteristics of COVID-19 manifestations caused by Omicron," the text says.
"On the other hand, we cannot ignore the fact that the occupancy of ICU beds today also reflects the use of complex services required by cases of the Delta variant and cases of Influenza," the alert concludes.
Fiocruz also pointed out that it is necessary to reorganize the healthcare network, focusing not only on opening more beds, but also on the staff shortages that healthcare teams may suffer due to infections, on telehealth services, primary care, and strengthening vaccination efforts.
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