Covid: With alarming surge, Brazil pips India to again become 2nd worst-hit nation

NEW DELHI: The Coronavirus pandemic is surging rapidly in Brazil. The South American nation reported a record 85,663 cases and 2,216 deaths on March 12. On Saturday, Brazil surpassed India to become the second-worst Coronavirus-hit country in the world.

The dire situation has left the country's health infrastructure on the verge of collapse. The World Health Organisation said the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil is very concerning and serious action needs to be taken.

As per the latest numbers, the country had 11,363,380 cases of infection and 275,105 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Experts have attributed the surge in cases to a new variant called P1, also known as the Brazil variant. It is believed to have emerged in Brazil, in or around the Amazon rainforest city of Manaus.

The new variant is far more infectious and was found to be infecting people who already contracted the virus and were cured.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid-19, told Friday's briefing that studies showed the variant had several mutations that "confer increased transmissibility".

"There are some suggestions of increased severity as well," she said.

Even as hospitals across the country falter, President Jair Bolsonaro insists on unproven treatments and the only attempt to create a national plan to contain Covid-19 has just fallen short.