Coronavirus deaths crossed 250,000 mark in Brazil

One year after the first verified case of the novel coronavirus in Brazil, Latin America's largest country recorded more than 250,000 deaths due to COVID-19, with the virus still spreading as a national vaccination problem struggles to gain momentum.

President Jair Bolsonaro, an extreme-right-wing populist who fought against the closure measures while saying he was not going to take any COVID-19 vaccine, has been criticized for his response to the virus.

Brazil has the world's second-highest COVID-19 mortality rate after the United States, and more than 10.3 million confirmed cases, the third-highest after the United States and India. The highly infectious disease has resulted in the death of 251,498 people in Brazil, the health ministry said Thursday night, with 1,541 deaths reported in the previous 24 hours.

Brazil's situation seems to be worsening due to the new variant that researchers say is more deadly. Over the past two weeks, Brazil has reported the largest daily average of deaths from coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic - nearly 1,100 - which exceeded the previous peak in late July.

"The virus circulates without any control," said Christovam Barcellos of the country's federally funded biomedical institute Fiocruz, which manufactures Brazil's award of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Brazil is undergoing "a second plateau," he declared. "This is not a second wave because we've been up for five weeks with 1,000 deaths a day."

The officials now spread mainly through cities in Brazil's vast interior, aided by a lack of national or even local connections, which means Brazilians move freely across the continent-sized country.

This was crucial for the spread of the new variant of the state of Amazonas, which caused international alarm and led to an icy reception for Brazilians hoping to travel internationally. According to the Ministry of Health, the new strain has been recognized in at least 17 Brazilian states.

After a slow and politically tumultuous start, Brazil has maintained to start vaccinations, with so far more than 7.5 million shots fired in a country with more than 210 million people.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China, Sinovac Biotech, currently Brazil's most important tool to slow down the virus, is effective against the British and South African variants, the Brazilian partner of the vaccine said last week. Tests to see if it works with the Amazonas tribe continue.

But Brazil is struggling to get enough vaccines amid a worldwide scramble for supplies. The Ministry of Health, which has only two supply contracts, has so far received only 16 million doses.