More Than Half A Million Brazilians Have Died From Covid-19

More than half a million Brazilians have died as a result of Covid-19, making it the second country after the US to reach the grim milestone.

“500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world. I work tirelessly to vaccinate all Brazilians in the shortest time possible and change this scenario that has plagued us for over a year. I offer my sympathy to every father, mother, friends and relatives who have lost their loved ones,” Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tweeted on June 19.

The exact number of deaths is 500,800 according to Brazilian Ministry of Health.  This week the average number of daily deaths surpassed 2,000 for the first time since May 10.

The situation is described as “critical” in 19 regions across the south American country.

Only 11 per cent of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated and 29 per cent have received one dose.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been sceptical about vaccines and downplayed the risks of Covid-19 initially, has promised to immunise the entire population by the end of the year.

former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted, “500,000 deaths from a disease for which there is now a vaccine, in a country that has been a world leader in vaccination. There is a word for that: genocide,” former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted.

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