More than 4000 Covid-19 patients have lost their lives in the last 24 hours in Brazil. More contagious variants are infecting more people rapidly. 

The death toll has reached almost 337,000 while 13 million cases have been reported so far. 

The Health system in many areas is poorly managed, hospitals are overcrowded as patients wait for treatment in some cities. 

According to the health institute Fiocruz, patients in most states are occupying more than 90% of intensive care unit beds.

Short supplies of oxygen and sedative have also been reported in some states. However, some cities and states are easing lockdown measures. Fiocruz said that it has detected 92 variants of coronavirus in Brazil. The P.1 or Brazil variant is thought to be more contagious. 

“The fact is the anti-lockdown narrative of President Jair Bolsonaro has won,” Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil’s Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials, told the Associated Press.

He said, “Mayors and governors are politically prohibited from beefing up social distancing policies because they know supporters of the president, including business leaders, will sabotage it.”

However, President Jair Bolsonaro is still opposing lockdown measures to limit the spread. He claims that the damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the virus itself, and has tried to revert some of the restrictions imposed by local authorities in the courts.