Coronavirus: countries worldwide hit with record Covid-19 deaths, new cases
- Brazil’s outbreak spiralling out of control, with vaccines and hospital beds in short supply
- Iran has been in the grips of a fourth wave of infections since the start of the week
Ambulances filled with breathless patients lined up in Brazil as nations around the world set records this week for Covid-19 deaths and new coronavirus infections. The disease surged even in some countries that have kept the virus in check.
Brazil this week became just the third country, after the US and Peru, to report a 24-hour tally of Covid-19 deaths that exceeded 4,000. India hit a peak of almost 127,000 new cases in 24 hours, and Iran set a new coronavirus infection record for the third straight day, reporting nearly 22,600 new cases.
In total, more than 2 million people have been infected in Iran since the pandemic began in February 2020. The death toll is at nearly 64,000, the Interior Ministry said.
In the state of Rio de Janeiro, emergency services were under their biggest strain since the pandemic began, with ambulances carrying patients of all ages to overcrowded hospitals struggling to care for everyone. Authorities say over 90 per cent of the state’s intensive-care unit beds are taken by Covid-19 patients, and many cities were reporting people dying at home due to lack of available medical treatment.
“We’re already living the third wave. We have three times more calls,” in comparison with previous waves, said Adriano Pereira, director of the mobile emergency care service in Duque de Caxias, an impoverished city outside Rio.
Brazil’s death toll has risen past 340,000, the second-highest total in the world behind the US, where nearly 560,000 people have died, according to official figures.
