Brazil emerging as coronavirus hotspot

Hospitals and morgues in Brazil are reaching their breaking point. Medical officials in Rio de Janeiro and at least four other cities warned they are already overwhelmed or on the verge of collapsing as the coronavirus numbers surpassed 67,000 confirmed cases and more than 4,600 deaths and 31,000 recoveries as of Tuesday. But those counts likely are inaccurate due to low testing rates. Scientists from the University of Brasilia and the University of São Paulo said the actual number of those infected this week ranges between 587,000 and 1.1 million.

How did it get so bad? Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has maintained COVID-19 is a “little flu” and social distancing and other restrictive measures are unnecessary. Earlier this month, he fired a health minister who called for a tough response to the pandemic and replaced him with someone who supports keeping the economy open.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report in Globe Trot about how different countries responded to the pandemic.