Brazil has 614,941 infected, 34,021 dead from COVID-19
The daily report published by the Health Ministry Thursday (Jun. 4) includes 30,925 new people infected with coronavirus, adding up to 614,941—up five percent from the previous day’s 584,016.
New deaths have also been reported by the ministry—1,473, bringing the total to 34,021, up 4.3 percent from Wednesday’s (Jun. 3) 32,548.
Of the total case tally, 325,957 are being monitored, and 245,963 have recovered. There are also 4,159 related obits under investigation.
New deaths have been notified in all 27 Brazilian states. São Paulo is still the epicenter of the disease in the country, with the highest death toll (8,560), followed by Rio de Janeiro (6,327), Ceará (3,813), Pará (3,416), and Pernambuco (3,134).
In a press conference at the Planalto presidential palace, deputy secretary for Health Surveillance Eduardo Macário noted that the cases in the country are still on the rise, and reiterated that the disease is going through an uneven spread through the country. It has grown more intense in the North and Northeast, he pointed out, and less so in the South, the Central-West, and the Southeast, except for São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
On the relaxing of social distancing measures and the reopening of business, Macário argued that decisions “must be adequate and proportional to the risk.”
One of the figures unveiled was an indicator dubbed reproduction number, which gauges the pace of contagion (how many people are infected by a single infected patient). The states with the highest values are Acre (1.6 people infected by each COVID-19 patient); Goiás (1.6); Bahia (1.7); and Ceará (2.4). All other states float between 1.1 a 1.5.
