Brazil restores lockdowns as pandemic escalates

Brazil's most populous and wealthiest states are restoring lockdowns after Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths set new records, trends that could prolong the country's economic contraction through the first half of 2021.

Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and other states have imposed two-week lockdowns with restrictions on all non-essential businesses. Mining, construction and agriculture are among the sectors classified as essential, putting the burden of the restrictions on the retail and service sectors.

"We are on the brink of the health system's collapse. Urgent and collective measures are required," Joao Doria, governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil's most economically important state, said yesterday when announcing the lockdown that starts on 6 March.

Brazil's economy shrank by 4.1pc in 2020 because of the pandemic, less than many had projected but still the worst setback on record, according to data released yesterday by the Brazilian statistics institute (IBGE).

Physicians are blaming the recent surge in virus deaths on mid-February Carnival celebrations. Carnival was officially cancelled in many parts of Brazil because of the pandemic but some revellers still flocked to private parties and festivities.

The health ministry reported daily deaths from Covid-19 reached a record 1,910 yesterday, up from 1,641 the day before and up sharply from the seven-day moving average of 1,331. Registered cases also surged to 71,704/d yesterday from 59,925/d the previous day. Total Covid-related deaths reached 259,271, with 10.7m confirmed cases. Many of the intensive care units in hospitals across Brazil's major cities are operating at full capacity.

New Covid-19 variants, including the so-called Manaus variant, as well as variants from the UK and South Africa which have turned up in the country, are of growing concern.

Vaccinations got off to a slow start in Brazil but are expected to pick up speed in the coming weeks as more doses are distributed. Only about 3.5pc of the population — 7.4mn people — has been vaccinated. The ministry as well as state governments are negotiating the purchase of more vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and other suppliers.

Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, who has long downplayed the pandemic, chastised governors' efforts to try to check contagion and avert the collapse of regional healthcare systems by using lockdown measures because of their impact on economic growth.

Because of the Manaus variant, 27 countries have adopted restrictions on international flights to and from Brazil. The resurgence of the pandemic is also expected to slow the recovery of domestic flight demand, which fell by 49pc in 2020 from the year before because of the pandemic.