The number of young people infected with Covid-19 is increasing in Brazil, and the majority of patients in hospital intensive care units are now younger than 40. the number of deaths in the state of Rio already exceeds the number of births.
According to a study by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Care, more than half of the patients in intensive care units are under the age of 40, which is worrying for professionals, RFI-France reported on Wednesday (April 14, 2021).
Our RFI correspondent Sarah Cozzolino reports from Rio de Janeiro that Covid patients between the ages of 50 and 60 are now a minority at the public hospital in Rio’s Sao Sebastião. Ana, a female infectious disease specialist, said in an interview that the number of seriously ill patients requiring respiratory assistance in the hospital today ranges from 33 and 39 years old to as young as 20.
One of the explanations for the increasing youth of Brazilian patients
According to the female doctor, the first explanation for this change in patient characteristics comes from mutations of the virus in transmission. The emergence of new variants is due to epidemic viruses that are out of control, as well as the lack of vaccination policies that could slow down the epidemic. These more aggressive and pathogenic viruses lead to the deterioration of the patient’s condition.
The second explanation for the younger patients in Brazil
Another explanation is that the elderly are starting to be protected by vaccination. This is also due to the better compliance of older people with social distance measures. However, the president of the Brazilian Public Health Association noted that, unfortunately, young people continue to flow, so that, proportionally, the significant increase in infections leads to deterioration and a proportion of patients require hospitalization.
The number of deaths already exceeds the newborn population in Rio state
In the state of Rio de Janeiro, the number of deaths now exceeds the number of births, but on Friday, the local government reopened stores ˎ bars and restaurants that had previously been closed for two weeks.
The number of deaths from the Covid-19 virus in Brazil has exceeded 353,000. After the United States, Brazil has the second highest number of deaths from the epidemic in the world.
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