The governments of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo became alert after the announcement that the state of Rio de Janeiro and cities in the metropolitan region of the capital of Rio de Janeiro are facing an epidemic of the Influenza virus.
The state health departments informed the CNN that monitor the situation in Rio or demand a posture from the Ministry of Health.
In a note sent to CNN, the São Paulo State Department of Health informs that it “requested the Ministry of Health to make an urgent statement regarding the epidemiological scenario of influenza in Brazil, given the increase in influenza cases in Rio de Janeiro and the impact on epidemiological analyses. caused by failures in federal respiratory disease reporting systems”.
The request was made by letter sent to the Federal Government on Tuesday (14).
In the case of Espírito Santo, there is already an increase in cases of flu. “According to the Central Public Health Laboratory of Espírito Santo (Lacen-ES), since last week there has been an increase in positive samples for respiratory viruses associated with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SRAG)”, informed the state secretariat, which for the time being does not see the volume for this to be considered an outbreak or epidemic of Influenza.
They also say that they have been following the situation in Rio and that “the technical team is already drawing up strategies to deal with the disease if there is an increase in cases in the state”.
In a note sent to CNN, the State Health Department of Minas Gerais stated that “the SES-MG teams monitor the situation in the neighboring state and advise border municipalities in surveillance actions”.
In Minas, the ‘Sentinel Surveillance of Flu Syndrome’ is responsible for identifying the circulation of the Influenza virus, and unusual situations or even the emergence of a new viral subtype. This year they expanded the action by deploying sentinel units in all regions of the state, but so far they have not noticed an increase in the number of cases.
São Paulo capital
In São Paulo, the city has noticed a significant increase in people with flu-like illness in health facilities in recent weeks. In the entire month of November 2021, 111,000 people were attended with flu-like symptoms, 56 thousand of which were suspected of Covid-19.
In less than 15 days in December, there are already 91 thousand consultations with respiratory conditions, 45 thousand of which are suspected of Covid-19.
The government of the state of São Paulo also points out the instability of the federal systems as an obstacle to monitoring the situation. “In addition, the State of São Paulo borders Rio de Janeiro, where cases of Influenza are on the rise”, he says.
They say they “maintain 21 sentinel units to identify circulating respiratory viruses” and that “preliminary Influenza SRAG data available from SIVEP Flu for 2021, as of December 10, indicate 665 cases and 50 deaths. Last year, there were 713 cases and 54 deaths. In 2019, there were 1,693 cases and 288 deaths”.
A CNN questioned the Ministry of Health about the aid to municipalities in Rio that are without vaccine and awaiting return.
In some cities, there is still vaccine, but stocks are low. As the campaign is concentrated in the first half of the year, it is expected that in December the health centers do not have doses of the immunizing agent, which is why the situation of outbreaks and epidemics in cities at this time of year is atypical.
Reference: CNN Brasil
