The advance of the Ômicron variant in Brazil has already caused noticeable impacts on the numbers of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, while throughout the month of December 2021 8,008 cases of the disease were recorded, just in the first four days of this year there are already 6,551 confirmed contaminations. The data are from the panel of the State Department of Health. On average, there are 1,637 infections per day in January 2022, compared to 258 daily cases in December last year.
This increase in cases had already been predicted by the researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) Margareth Dalcolmo. She warned, on December 31, that a “boom” of cases was expected after New Year’s Eve. “We expect to have many cases a week later [do Réveillon]. Ômicron has proved, so far, less lethal, but with a faster transmission”, emphasized Dalcolmo at the time.
The prediction of an increase in cases is also corroborated by infectologist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Celso Ramos, who warned of the need for a booster dose as a preventive measure to prevent the advance of Ômicron.
“So far a good part of the population has already received two doses, but these vaccines have an expiration date. There are people who were vaccinated at the beginning of the year and, if they don’t take the third dose, they will probably already have compromised immunity. Not in the sense of an immunological defect, but this type of protection is transitory. Given this fact, and the imminent absolute predominance that Ômicron will have, I have no doubt that we will have an increase in cases in the coming days”, he explained.
However, at least so far, the advancement of cases has not caused a considerable increase in the number of hospitalized beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Although, on Tuesday (4), in the state health network, there was an occupancy rate in intensive care units destined to Covid-19 of 20%, which represented the highest number since November 21 of the year In the past, the percentage returned to the normal level of 10% this Wednesday (5).
However, according to data from the state secretariat, after three days in a row without having counted any deaths by Covid-19, on Tuesday (4), the last record available on the panel, 41 deaths were registered as a result of the virus. In Brazil, there were 234 new deaths registered in this period.
The exponential advance of Covid-19 cases has been registered in several countries. According to a survey by the organization Our World In Data, the world broke a new record of registered cases in 24 hours this Wednesday (5), reaching 2.59 million. The previous record had been registered the day before, January 4, with 2.4 million.
Reference: CNN Brasil
