With the advancement of the Ômicron variant across the country and the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, governors began to discuss the possibility of resuming restrictions against the coronavirus in the states to try to contain the spread of the disease.
In a press conference on Tuesday (11), the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, admitted that most of the confirmed cases in Brazil in recent days are infections caused by Ômicron.
Faced with the high number of contamination, some restrictive measures that had already ceased to be in force are gradually returning. According to a survey of CNN, at least eight states have already announced the return of restrictions due to the advance of Covid-19 in the country. They are: Pernambuco, Bahia, Ceará, Amazonas, Piauí, Maranhão, Amapá and Paraíba.
In an interview with CNN this Wednesday (12), the governor of Piauí and president of the Forum of Governors, Wellington Dias (PT), reported that he had to adopt restrictive measures also due to the influence of cases of flu caused by the H3N2 strain of the Influenza virus, and cases of diarrhea, especially in children, associated with the rainy season – which contribute to greater pressure on hospitals in the state.
The governor said that the fight against the pandemic in Piauí was affected by the blackout of data from the Ministry of Health after a cyber attack in early December. “Since the attack we have had difficulty in having data that can be a marker”, he said.
He explains that there is also a damming of information that distorts the reality of the pandemic in the state, and makes it difficult for scientists who advise the government to make decisions to combat Covid-19.
“This week, for example, according to the Ministry’s data, it is as if there was a 3766% growth in new cases in Piauí. When we look at our day-to-day data it doesn’t add up. We have a growth in the range of 25% to 30% of cases in the same period compared to the previous month”, he argued.
A possible way out to contain the transmission of the Ômicron variant in the state, the governor says that the vaccination of children against Covid-19 will be carried out in Piauí to guarantee the conditions for returning to school.
The forecast is that the first batch, with 1.2 million pediatric doses of Pfizer, will arrive in Brazil this Thursday (13), in Campinas (SP).
Wellington Dias reported that the government’s objective is that the doses are distributed to the municipalities for immediate start of vaccination within a maximum of 48 hours after the transfer of the federal government.
Reference: CNN Brasil
