After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that Europe “faces a real threat of the resurgence of Covid-19”, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), which monitors the situation of the pandemic in Brazil, highlighted that we are experiencing a phase in the country “ of greater relief, but not of less concern”.
The researchers at the Fiocruz Observatory point out that Europe has high rates of transmission and circulation of Covid-19, and is experiencing the spread of new variants. The institution claims that Brazil needs “to learn from the lessons that Europe has given so as not to make mistakes in the same points”.
The researchers reinforced the need for the country not to relax early on distancing and protection measures, such as maintaining the use of masks and advancing in vaccination coverage.
Fiocruz’s scientists assess that the indicators in Brazil show a decline in daily cases of hospitalizations and deaths and a growing vaccination coverage, but still below the 80% level – an average considered safe by scientists for the implementation of flexible measures.
For the researcher Raphael Guimarães, vaccines continue to be fundamental for the maintenance of the current good pandemic moment in Brazil, however, it is necessary to increase immunization rates, that is, to make more people take the vaccines so that the circulation of the virus continues in decline and we do not have the emergence of new variants, as occurs in the old continent.
“We have to encourage an increase in vaccine coverage, which at some point will tend to slow down, and will require an effort to work in niches with greater resistance to the application of immunobiologicals. This is fundamental for us to control the pandemic”, he pointed out.
In a statement, researchers from the Fiocruz Observatory add that “we are moving towards victory against Covid-19, but for us to be successful we still need to intensify vaccination, reinforce the need for protective measures such as the use of masks and physical distance from places with crowding whenever possible”.
Currently, about 121,002,280 people have completed the vaccine cycle in Brazil. The number represents 56.9% of the fully immunized population (either with two doses or a single dose against Covid-19). This number is below 80% said by Fiocruz as ideal to have greater security in combating the virus.
Reference: CNN Brasil
