Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll surpassed 700,000 on Tuesday, three years after the first death from the pandemic, as Latin America’s largest country mourned the world’s second-highest death toll, according to the health ministry.

Brazil’s first death, a woman in her 50s in São Paulo (Southeast), was reported on March 12, 2020, at the start of a painfully protracted health crisis that has pushed the country’s hospitals, morgues and cemeteries to the breaking point. .

According to the World Health Organization, only the United States recorded the worst number of victims: more than 1.1 million people died.

The pandemic has officially claimed the lives of at least 6.8 million people worldwidealthough this number is usually considered greatly underestimated in relation to reality.

Brazil’s crisis management has been marked by ongoing infighting, especially between academics and far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. The latter has long stated that Covid is nothing but “flu”, advertised ineffective treatments, opposed vaccination. He has spoken out against austerity measures to protect Latin America’s largest economy, often addressing crowds, usually without a mask.

His successor, center-left Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, accused Bolsonaro of “genocide” while defending vaccination. He himself received his 5th dose in front of the cameras in February.

get well soon Lula

Brazil’s president will return to his duties at the presidential palace on Wednesday after recovering from mild pneumonia, his spokesman Paulo Pimenta said Tuesday.

Lula was diagnosed with mild pneumonia on Thursday and has been working at Alvorada’s presidential country house ever since. On Saturday, it was confirmed that the president also had the flu, a diagnosis that led to the cancellation of his official visit to China, which has yet to be rescheduled.

Source: RES-IPE