Brazil has caused "a humanitarian catastrophe" with its COVID-19 response that has left thousands dead, according to experts from international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
"I have to be very clear about this: The Brazilian authorities' negligence is costing lives," MSF head Christos Christou says.
The country's official death toll is more than 362,000 as of Thursday - second only to the U.S. On Thursday the country recorded another 73,174 infections and 3,560 deaths.
The response of conservative Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to the pandemic is in itself "a threat to its own population," MSF general director Meinie Nicolai said adding state authorities had been peddling purported cures with no scientific backing.
"There is no real acknowledgment of the severity of the disease. Science is put aside. Fake news is being distributed and health care workers are left on their own," Nicolai said.
Brazil is ground zero for the contagious P1 COVID variant - which scientists believe to be even more aggressive than the South African strain that appeared in early 2021.
International concerns about transmitting the Brazilian variant are such that France stopped all flights to the region this week. It's an "absolutely dramatic situation," said French prime minister Jean Castex.
Local health workers are struggling to tackle the situation without government support and have become "physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted," Christou said.
"Everyone I have spoken with in Brazil asked for the same thing: this disease needs to be taken seriously by the authorities, they say."
But the criticism has made Bolsonaro and his allies double down in defense of their COVID response which they say has helped Brazil's economy. The leader's son Eduardo tweeted this week that lockdowns encouraged the spread of the virus.
