The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: what is happening on the front line

Abstract

Knowledge about a disease, regardless of its etiology, passes through several spheres and the impact on health is known to be only the most obvious. The pandemic COVID-19, a disease caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus, has proved the resilience of communities around the world, especially in countries underprepared in terms of a variety of aspects such as infrastructure, technology and education. One of the largest economies in the world, Brazil as an emerging country has faced this great challenge. The number of deaths and the economic damage resulting from the pandemic are explicitly worthy of attention by the government, industry and academia. This pandemic proved to Brazil and worldwide how much repercussion a bankruptcy in the health system can bring-there is no perfect health management when it comes to a disease that can also affect those who are not infected by it: the need for confinement and a change in habit has led to food shortages, unemployment and mental disorders. The speed, the way of conveying information and the advent of so-called fake news have increased cases of stress and anxiety about the disease and its consequences. The isolation imposed by the disease was once called Van Hoof's "greatest psychological experiment in the world" (Lima, 2020) [1]. There is an estimate that the psychological impairment generated by COVID-19 is between one third and half of the population if they do not receive adequate care. Obviously, the number of people psychologically affected by the pandemic is greater than the number of people infected by the virus itself. Health professionals and related areas such as drivers, cleaning staff and hospital administration are also classified as groups at mental risk due to the constant fear of infection and death. Unfortunately, despite a pandemic of fear and stress within that generated by the coronavirus, it still lacks numbers that can assess specific population groups. Some measures have been taken in order to

A Statistical Review of the Impact of COVID-19 on the World

“…The severity of the crisis in Brazil was caused by reasons, including the country's enormous population, socioeconomic differences, difficulties implementing broad testing, and political conflicts that affected pandemic response plans. Prado et al [19] investigated and explained the effects of COVID-19 in Brazil, highlighting the historic economic collapse as the worst in the nation's history. The analysis confirmed that unemployment rates surged to 12.8%, leaving a startling 12 million unemployed people.…”