MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil hits COVID-19 infections low since May 2020

Astra-Zeneca wants its drug added to the country's booster dose program

Brazil has reached a new low in its rate of COVID-19 infections Wednesday, after only 9,335 new daily cases were detected over the past week, it was announced.

 It was the lowest average since May 14 of last year. The country totaled 21,976,724 cases, with 374 fatalities reported Wednesday for a total 611,898 since the start of the pandemic. The average was 260 deaths every 24 hours in the last week, which was 17 consecutive days with averages below 300 deaths.

Since vaccination started in January, 157.3 million people (73.7% of the population) have received at least one dose, while 126.7 million Brazilians (59.4% of the population) have taken a full immunization treatment.

Meanwhile, developers of the AstraZeneca vaccine have filed a request before Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to include their drug as a booster against COVID-19.

“The request of the pharmaceutical [company] foresees the inclusion of a booster dose with at least a six-month interval, after the administration of the second dose of the vaccine,” Anvisa said in a statement.

The proposal covers all age groups currently included in the country's vaccination program, that is all people aged 18 and above.

This week, the federal Health Ministry announced the entire adult population of the country would receive a third dose.

Brazilian health authorities have reported no new COVID-19 cases Nov. 18, and just 47 deaths.

To date, 21,194,900 patients have recovered from COVID-19 nationwide.

Brazil ranks third worldwide in position the number of coronavirus infections, behind the United States (48,289,391 cases), and India (34,478,517).

The United Kingdom comes in fourth but way behind, with just 9,675,058 infections, Russia 9,219,912, Turkey 8,480,986, France 7,330,958, Iran 6,063,775, Argentina 5,310,334 and Germany 5,169,657.

If the vaccination campaign is to be measured according to the population density, Brazil is in 43rd place on a list led by the Maldives, followed by Malta and the United Arab Emirates.