MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil enters new phase in C19 crisis as cases drop significantly

Despite the announcement, “we will continue to live with the virus,” Queiroga explained

Brazilian Health authorities Sunday announced a new phase in the fight against COVID-19 and the subsequent lifting of most restrictive measures adopted since 2020 to curb the spread of the disease.

 However, some conditions will need to be met in order for the Government to announce the end of the Public Health Emergency of National Importance (Espin), Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga explained during a broadcast message. He also said the new rules will be announced shortly.

“Thanks to the improvement of the epidemiological scenario, [and] the wide vaccination coverage of the population, ..., today we can announce the end of the Public Health Emergency of National Importance, the Espin. In the next few days, a normative act will be edited regulating this decision,” the Health Minister said.

Queiroga also pointed out that the new measures did not “mean the end of COVID-19,” and that “we will continue to live with the virus.”

“The Ministry of Health remains vigilant and prepared to adopt all necessary actions to ensure the health of Brazilians,” he added.

The pandemic was declared March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Local authorities may also announce the end of Espin. Brazil recorded merely 18 Covid-19 deaths nationwide in the last 24 hours Sunday, bringing the total to 662,011. The number of fatalities has been falling for over 50 straight days now.

Queiroga's announcement is at odds with WHO's announcement of April 13, when it said the COVID-19 pandemic remained a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” after its experts determined that the SARS-CoV-2 virus continued to have an “unpredictable evolution, aggravated by its wide circulation and intense transmission” and concerned was expressed over some countries relaxing measures to decrease transmission. Nevertheless, each country decides on its status based on the local epidemiological situation.

Espin allowed the federal government to take a number of measures, such as the mandatory wearing of masks and emergency authorization for vaccines. With the end of the public health emergency, the Ministry of Health estimates that more than two thousand regulations will be dropped nationwide, including the purchase of drugs and medical supplies without bidding.

However, change will be adopted gradually. The Health Ministry has already asked the sanitary agency Anvisa to extend for another year the emergency use of the Coronavac vaccine, manufactured at Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute under the brand ButanVac