President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) revoked, this Monday (23), 23 decrees related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Among them, the one that established a committee to coordinate the fight against the coronavirus nationally.
The measure, published in the Official Gazette (DOU), comes a day after the official end of the Public Health Emergency of National Importance (Espin) in Brazil because of Covid-19.
The so-called “National Coordinating Committee to Combat the Covid-19 Pandemic” was created by decree 10,659, in March 2021.
In addition to the President of the Republic, the group was made up of the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressistas-AL).
The president of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), Minister Luiz Fux, participated as an observer.
According to the stipulated rules, the Committee should meet ordinarily to discuss measures to control the pandemic and assist in the articulation between the Powers and the states.
Other revoked decrees
In addition to the end of the Coordinating Committee, 22 other decrees involving the Covid-19 pandemic were revoked by the federal government.
Among them, for example, is the decree that defined the services and activities considered essential during the period.
The decree regulating the law that provides for the ban on exports of essential medical, hospital and hygiene products was also revoked.
End of the Public Health Emergency
The federal government ordinance that determines the end of Public Health Emergency of National Importance (Espin) in Brazil by Covid-19 came into force this Sunday (22), after being signed by the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga on April 22.
The Ministry of Health attributed the decision to an improvement in the epidemiological situation in Brazil, to the high vaccination coverage population and the response and assistance capacity of the Unified Health System (SUS ) to suspected and confirmed cases.
At the time, data from the folder indicated a drop of more than 80% in the moving average of cases and deaths by Covid-19 compared to the peak of cases in early 2022 generated by the Omicron variant .
Since then, however, the test positivity rate for Covid-19 started an uptrend with the seventh weekly increase in a row, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Pharmacy and Drugstore Chains (Abrafarma).
Between the 9th and 15th of May, positive results represented 26.08% of the total number of tests carried out, with 31,623 cases and an increase of 56% compared to the previous week.
The increase in the positivity rate was also recorded in the self-tests for Covid-19, at 27%, with an increase of five percentage points compared to the months of March and April.
The number of tests carried out in the last week also showed growth. While in the week of May 2 to 8, 89,236 tests were carried out in private pharmacies in the country, in the week of May 9 to 15 there were 121,272, an increase of 36%.
On the day the ordinance was signed, Marcelo Queiroga went so far as to say that “even if we have cases of Covid – because we have not ended Covid, nor have we ended the virus, the virus will continue to circulate and we have to learn to live with it, if there is a need for care in Primary Care, we are able to provide care, if there is a need for intensive care beds, we have intensive care beds”.
Even with the end of the state of emergency, declared on February 3, 2020, the classification of Covid-19 as pandemic can only be officially amended by the World Health Organization (WHO ). The organization met in April to discuss a possible status change, but it was rejected.
Source: CNN Brasil
