Lockdown in São Luís is "prophylactic" and could be even stricter, says Dino.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The capital of Maranhão, São Luís, began a lockdown on Tuesday, the most restrictive form of isolation amid the coronavirus epidemic, in a court decision celebrated by the state governor, Flávio Dino (PCdoB), who described the measure as prophylactic to prevent the state's health system from collapsing.

"We are implementing a preventative lockdown. We don't have a chaotic situation, but what we were observing is that demand was growing very rapidly and exceeding our capacity to expand the supply of beds and healthcare professionals," Dino told Reuters by phone on Tuesday morning, the first day of the unprecedented measure in the country.

“There was a convergence between our technical studies, the Public Prosecutor's Office filing a lawsuit, and the judge ruling in our favor. A fortunate convergence, I would say. And we decided not to appeal,” he added.

According to the governor, on Monday night the occupancy rate of beds in the state network of São Luiz was 95% in ICUs and 85% in clinical beds reserved for Covid-19. In the municipal network, the federal university hospital, and private networks, he stated, the numbers are similar, despite the investment the state has made in expanding the care network since the beginning of the epidemic.

São Luiz is the first city in the country to adopt a lockdown, at a time when the epidemic shows no signs of slowing down, but the country is divided between those considering increasing restrictions, such as Rio de Janeiro, and others that have already decided to reopen, such as Santa Catarina.

Pressed by economic issues and by President Jair Bolsonaro, who insists on criticizing mayors and governors for social isolation measures, several municipalities have seen a drop in social isolation in recent weeks.

Despite opposing Bolsonaro, Dino is unimpressed by the president's virulent statements. Although Maranhão is one of the poorest states in the country, with the lowest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the governor says he may tighten measures if the lockdown doesn't work.

“Our goal is to reach 80% isolation. We have a tool that measures this and we will have a three-day comparison next Thursday. If there is a good level of compliance by the 14th, we can suspend [the lockdown]. If not, I can further restrict circulation,” assured the governor, who was already considering tightening the restrictive measures before the court decision that decreed the lockdown until the 14th, since cases have grown by more than 220% in the last 15 days.

Isolation in decline

With 4.227 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 249 deaths, Maranhão is the sixth most affected state by the epidemic. Isolation measures began on March 20, but as time passed, the circulation of people increased.

From an initial isolation rate of 70% in the first few weeks, according to a survey conducted by the state government, it dropped to just over 50%.

Starting this Tuesday, residents of São Luís Island—which includes the capital and the municipalities of São José do Ribamar, Raposa, and Passo do Lumiar—will only be allowed to leave their homes to buy food, medicine, and cleaning supplies. Only those employed in essential services may leave to go to work.

To circulate on the streets, these workers will have to carry a declaration of essential service, issued by their companies, and checkpoints have been set up to carry out random checks. Anyone circulating without authorization will first be warned by the police and, if they do not comply, may be taken to a police station.

All access to the island has been closed, except for medical personnel, ambulances, police vehicles, and trucks and buses transporting essential personnel and supplies.

"The goal is not to embarrass people, but to prevent circulation. Today it seems we are having quite good success, from what I can see from here," said the governor, who was in his office at the Palácio dos Leões, the seat of the government of Maranhão.

Dino stated that the lockdown scenario suggests a reduction in the epidemic curve, which had been growing rapidly. With the lockdown of the island, which concentrates almost a quarter of the state's population of 1,5 million inhabitants, the trend is to decrease the spread of the virus while the government expands its healthcare capacity.

“We started the crisis with 232 beds dedicated to Covid, between ICUs and clinical beds. Today we have 761, and we will reach 1.200 by the end of May. It's a considerable increase, but it's very difficult. Finding a building and a bed is easy; the difficult part is equipment and healthcare professionals. Equipment prices are very inflated on the international market, and the logistics of bringing it in are very difficult,” he said.

The government of Maranhão orchestrated a war-like operation to bring respirators from China without passing through the United States or São Paulo, and without stopping at the Federal Revenue Service, to avoid them being seized by foreign governments or the federal government itself.

The Federal Revenue Service even threatened to sue the governor, who at the time said on Twitter, "The Revenue Service can open whatever procedure it wants and we will comply with its demands. We just don't accept threats or senseless persecution."