Brazil Sets Daily Death Record For COVID-19, President Bolsonaro Rejects Lockdown

COVID-19 vaccination for the elderly in Brazil. (Wikimedia Commons/Governo do Estado de São Paulo)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reiterated that he has no plans to order a nationwide lockdown or lockdown in Brazil.

In fact, Brazil has just recorded a record daily death rate of COVID-19 as many as 4,195 people on Tuesday. Meanwhile, last Wednesday Brazil recorded a daily death toll of 3,829 people, according to Brazilian Health Ministry figures, as reported by Al Jazeera on Thursday, April 8.

'We're not going to accept the politics of staying at home and shutting it all down. There will be no national closure," President Bolsonaro said in a speech in Chapeco City.

On Wednesday, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said Brazil was among the countries that registered some of the highest daily COVID-19 cases in the world. Brazil's Health Ministry reported 92,625 new infections as of Wednesday.

"Over the past week, the United States, Brazil, and Argentina were among the 10 countries in the world that recorded the highest number of new infections worldwide," Carissa explained.

Separately, authorities reported the first confirmed case of a South African variant in Brazil on Wednesday. Adding to concerns about the handling of COVID-19 infections in the country.

The variant was first discovered in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, known as P1, and the South African variant is believed to be more easily transmitted than the original strain of the new coronavirus.

"This could be a big duel. I think P.1's already taking over. I'm not sure if South Africa will overtake P.1, let's see," research coordinator at Brazil's Butantan Biomedical Institute Maria Carolina Sabbaga told Reuters.

Brazil, which launched the COVID-19 vaccination program from January, has only reached 8 percent of the vaccinated population with limited doses. Brazil is known to use the COVID-19 vaccine alerts AstraZeneca and Sinovac China.

More than 336,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Brazil so far, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, on Wednesday said it would begin opening about 600 new graves every day, amid a spike in deaths from the coronavirus. The city is also preparing plans for a vertical cemetery, a basement with 26,000 drawer-like graves that can be built within 90 days of approval.