The daily moving average of deaths from Covid-19 in seven days has been above 200 in Brazil for six weeks, according to data from the National Health Council (Conass), released on Tuesday (9).
The current level, above 200, began to be registered on July 28 – with the highest number in the period reaching 257, on Sunday, July 17.
This Wednesday (10), the indicator stood at 216. For comparison purposes, on August 10, 2021, the moving average of deaths was 906. This represents a 76.1% reduction in the floating rate of deaths by Covid in a year in the country.
The highest average of fatalities, however, was recorded on April 12, 2021, when the number was 3,124 – at the time, the country had more than 20,000 deaths per week.
This indicator serves to monitor the pandemic without any distortions caused by underreporting on weekends and holidays or even errors in the information access platforms of the state health departments.
Regarding the numbers of deaths during a week, in the last count considered by Conass, between July 31 and August 6, 2022, 1,453 people died from Covid.
In the same period last year (between August 1 and 7) the country had 6,382 victims of the coronavirus.
Deaths from Covid also fell when compared to the period of the 1st half of each year. A survey carried out by the Agency CNN showed that between January and June of last year, 311,890 people died as a result of the disease. This year, in the same period, there were 52,360. A reduction of 83.2%.
According to Alexandre Naime Barbosa, vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases and professor and researcher at Unesp, the advance of vaccination was the determining factor for the reduction of deaths in 2022.
“Now we have an extremely effective vaccination schedule to avoid hospitalization and deaths. This is one of the main strengths [no enfrentamento da pandemia]”, I told CNN .
coronavirus hospitalizations
Hospitalizations for Covid last year were also higher when compared to 2022. At the end of June 2021, seven states had an occupancy rate above 80%, with Roraima having up to 100% of beds occupied.
This year, three federative units (Goiás, Paraná and Santa Catarina) had occupancy above 80%, with SC reaching 95.65% of total capacity at the end of the first semester.
For infectologist Robson Reis, professor at the Bahia School of Medicine and Public Health (EBMSP), what makes the current moment different from last year, in terms of deaths and hospitalization in ICUs by Covid, is the consolidation of vaccines – even in the context of new variants.
In an interview with CNN , Reis said that “vaccines, given the new variants, are less effective, but have maintained protection against severe forms of the disease. They were responsible, in 2022, for avoiding that scenario of crowded hospitals, lack of hospital beds, and especially the reduction of deaths”, said Reis.
Vaccination against Covid
According to data from the health departments, so far, the country has 84.64% of the population with the first dose of the vaccine. Those with the second dose, or single dose of Janssen, represent 79.47% of the eligible population.
However, the experts consulted by the CNN highlight that the 3rd dose vaccination rate is “below ideal”.
According to data from state health departments, 46.61% of eligible people took the booster immunizer.
With regard to the 4th dose, some Brazilian capitals began to apply the vaccine to people over 18 years of age. 10.94% of the eligible public received the vaccine.
Source: CNN Brasil
