By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Brazilian health officials report that as of Saturday, 1,577,004 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported with the additional 37,923 registered in the last 24 hours.

Authorities also report 876,359 people have recovered and the death toll has risen to 64,265.

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In a survey published on Thursday by the Ministry of Health, they report that 91% of people infected with COVID-19 had some type of symptom. Among them, are changes in taste and smell (62.9%); headache (62.2%), fever (56.2%) and cough (53.1%), palpitation (23.1%) and vomiting (23.1%).

The study “Evolution of the Prevalence of Infection by COVID-19 in Brazil: Population-Based Study”, funded by the Ministry of Health, was carried out by the Federal University of Pelotas.

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Health, Elcio Franco, said that the epidemiological survey study is one of the largest in the world and that it will contribute to providing information on the behavior of the virus.

“It is a contribution of Brazil to the international scientific community, and managers and health professionals, in the search for adequate solutions to fight the coronavirus”, he highlighted. “We are taking another important step with this study. Brazil shows once again its commitment and desire to contribute to the world in information and answers that can be given ”, said the secretary.

According to him, other elements still need to be analyzed to understand the dynamics of the disease and the transmission of people. “To show the complexity of the analysis that requires the numbers, the study points out that 91% of those infected felt some type of symptom. Again, we will need to understand how the data was captured, since it confronts other studies ”, he explained.

The survey showed that the lethality of the infection is 1.15%. That is, for every 100 people infected, one dies. It also revealed that the difference between the number of infected people is six times greater than the number of reported cases. “This is expected, when the majority of cases are mild or asymptomatic, which must be compared with other studies available since other estimates pointed to a higher number for this so-called underreporting,” explained the secretary.

The result by socioeconomic level, as the study points out, is striking. The poorest 20% of the population had twice as much infection as the richest 20% during the three phases of the survey. The reason should be analyzed in the coming weeks, but, according to the Ministry, there may be, for example, the agglomeration and the number of rooms in the residence.

The secretary stressed that the spread of the disease on the poorest shows the importance of offering decentralized assistance. “We need municipalities to adhere to community centers, which will enable closer service to the citizen and assistance before the disease progresses in severity. We need to adequately protect this part of society ”.


Another data shows that, in Brazil, the epidemic has been more intense in the North, but already in a scenario of stability. And that there is no difference between men and women in relation to contagion.

Children and adolescents are infected as much as adults, but have milder cases. The study did not assess the likelihood of transmission of the virus by this group. “We need to analyze the results by age group and transmission among children and adolescents, to define safer protocols for returning to school,” explained Elcio Franco.

Another data refers to intrafamily transmission. 2,500 people were tested who lived in the same space with people who tested positive for the disease. Of this total, 61% had a negative result, and 39%, a positive result.