MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil reported 6,728,452 Covid-19 positive cases and 178,995 deaths

Easing quarantines in Brazilian cities have led to crowded bars and restaurants, giving some the impression that life has returned to normal

Brazil reported 53,453 additional confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest daily rate since mid-August, and 836 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

Brazil has now registered 6,728,452 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 178,995, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India.

Easing quarantines in Brazilian cities have led to crowded bars and restaurants, giving some the impression that life has returned to normal. With the approaching holiday season, experts worry that COVID-19 will spread even faster.

“The greater social movement at the end of the year will end up spreading the virus even more and causing outbreaks and an increase in hospitalizations,” said Diogo Xavier, a researcher at the Fiocruz biomedical center in Rio de Janeiro.

“The concern is very great. The government needs to act. We still have the opportunity to take the appropriate measures and prevent this happening. Otherwise we will have a collapse of the health system,” he warned.

Several cities that were dismantling field hospitals used to receive COVID-19 patients in the first stage of the pandemic are now scrambling for more hospital capacity.