MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Covid kits contributed to deaths in Brazil

A “covid kit” touted by Jair Bolsonaro as an effective early treatment against Covid may have resulted in an increased number of deaths in seriously ill covid patients, according to reports in BBC Brasil today.

The news website quotes several heads of Brazilian intensive care units, who argue that the use and promotion of the so-called covid kit may have contributed to a higher death rate in several ways.

The controversial kits, which Bolsonaro claims to have used himself, are made up of a cocktail of drugs including: ivermectine, azithromycin, and hydroxychloroquine. Several scientific reports, however, have found the drugs to be ineffective in fighting covid-19.

Exclusive figures published by BBC Brasil this week show that some 80% of patients intubated as a result of covid in Brazil in 2020 did not survive. The figure is considerably higher than the global average of 50%, and does not appear to have decreased over the course of the year, according to researchers.