Brazil, which recorded the second-highest global rate of Covid-19 deaths, surpassed the 10 million mark, Thursday, amid a deadly second wave sweeping the country and problems encountered in the vaccination campaign.
Brazil has become the third country to reach this bleak rate after the United States and India, with more than 51,900 new infections recorded within the last 24 hours, according to official data.
During the same day, 1,367 people died of the disease, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 243,400.
The announcement of the infection figure of 10,030,626 in Brazil came amid growing criticism of the way President Jair Bolsonaro’s government responded to the pandemic and the vaccination campaign.
So far, 3 percent of the population of 212 million has received a first dose of the vaccine.
The vaccination campaign, which began a month ago with the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, has stopped in many cities and towns, including Rio de Janeiro, due to lack of doses.
Health Minister Eduardo Pazuelo announced this week that the country will receive 230 million doses by the end of July, but this depends on receiving the doses from abroad.
The government’s plan is also based on the purchase of 10 million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine and another 20 million of the Indian Kovaxin vaccine, but these two decades have not been finalized yet.
As Brazil battles the second wave of infection with the Coronavirus, the country also finds itself facing a new mutation that is more contagious than the virus and is spreading across the country.
