Brazil has been in the middle of talks among health experts over the past days as the country is fast becoming the new epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis that has infected millions around the world.
Record-High New Cases in Brazil
On Wednesday, Brazil logged a daily record of 11,385 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the national total to 188,974 confirmed cases, Reuters reported.
Aside from record high infections, the Latin American country also registered 749 new fatalities from the virus, a slight dip from the previous day's record of over 800 deaths.
Due to the new confirmed cases, Brazil has become the sixth hardest-hit country in the world, getting France out of its rank, and it is also the center of talks among experts who have been criticizing President Jair Bolsonaro for his apparent dislike of social distancing measures.
Model Suggests More Cases in Brazil than US
A team of 40 researchers at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Ribeira Preto have been studying scientific models that look into the potential extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil.
According to Deutsche Welle, head of the research team, Domingos Alves noted that even at this point in the Brazilian coronavirus crisis, the country "has no plan at all." Alves' models indicate that the number of infections in the country exceed those in the United States.
The models suggest that Brazil's COVID-19 infections may be 16 times more than the U.S., with Brazil possibly having around 2.1 million infections as of May 9. The models echo outgoing health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta's earlier statements.
Before his forced removal from his ministerial post in mid-April, Mandetta said the number of infections in Brazil were actually far higher than what official statistics revealed.
Fears of Massive Spike in Cases amid Loose Movement Restriction
Brazil is still the hardest-hit country in all of Latin America and some health experts have long been expressing fears of a potential massive spike in outbreaks across the country, The Guardian reported.
One of the biggest issues that global leaders and health authorities believe is causing the spike in new cases in Brazil is the lax social distancing and movement restrictions that were implemented in only select states.
There are around 211 million people across Brazil and the extent of infections in the country has yet to be officially unveiled as testing in the country is not as widespread as other countries in the region.
Bolsonaro has also been receiving increased criticism due to his handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the country. He has been joining public rallies that call for easing of anti-coronavirus measures set in place by some states.
As for deaths, Brazil has logged a total of 13,240 lives lost to the novel coronavirus.
