The Covid-19 Observatory bulletin of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), released this Friday (7), points out that at least six Brazilian capitals already have occupancy rates in hospitals above 60%. The high demand for care in the public network occurs amid the spread of the Ômicron variant in Brazil, say experts at the institution.
The comparison of hospitalization rates was made based on data from the first week of January, in relation to the month of December 2021. The information was compiled on the Unified Health System (SUS) platform.
According to the document, the city of Goiânia has the worst hospital occupancy rate in the country: 97% of occupied beds. Tied for second place are Maceió and Fortaleza with 85% of the vacancies occupied. The three capitals register ‘critical rates’ of Covid-19, points out the bulletin.
With intermediate rates, the following capitals are observed: Palmas (66%), Salvador (62%) and Belo Horizonte (73%). Although not yet confirmed, Fiocruz points to the city of Rio de Janeiro as the next place to register a deterioration in the epidemiological scenario.
At the state level, the negative highlight of the report was Tocantins, where bed occupancy rose from 23% in December to 62% in January. Another state in attention is Piauí, where the state health network registered a 5% increase in the number of vacancies occupied in recent weeks.
Despite the high number of Covid-19 cases in Brazil and the increase in hospitalizations for the disease, the foundation emphasizes that there is still no ‘pressure’ on ICU beds.
“It is noteworthy that the rates observed are not comparable to those seen at the worst moment of the pandemic, almost a year ago, considering the reduction in the number of beds allocated to Covid-19. Therefore, it is still premature to state that there is a new pressure on ICU beds, based only on the data available and presented here. However, attention should be paid to the evolution of the indicator”, highlights Fiocruz.
Reference: CNN Brasil
