By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Brazil Ministry of Health said the total coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19 cases reached 4,256 on Sunday.

Image by Paula Paulinha from Pixabay

São Paulo (1,451) and Rio de Janeiro  (600) account for about half the country’s cases.

In addition, according to information provided by State Health Departments across the country, the number of deaths increased from 114 to 136 in 24 hours.

Deaths have been reported in the following states: Amazonas (1), Bahia (1), Ceará (5), Pernambuco (5), Piauí (1), Rio Grande do Norte (1), Rio de Janeiro (17), São Paulo ( 98), Federal District (1), Goiás (1), Paraná (2), Santa Catarina (1) and Rio Grande do Sul (2).

Patients infected with COVID-19 now have another health unit specialized in the care of critically ill patients. The Ministry of Health allocated R $ 140 million for the construction of the Fiocruz Hospital Center for the COVID-19 Pandemic that will be implemented in Rio de Janeiro.

In this new space, actions will also be carried out in the Solidarity clinical trial ( Solidarity ), of the World Health Organization (WHO). The initiative, which will receive an investment of R $ 4 million from the Ministry of Health, aims to investigate the effectiveness of four treatments for COVID-19.

The space will have 200 exclusive beds for intensive and semi-intensive treatment for critically ill patients infected with the coronavirus. The president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Nísia Trindade, reinforces that the institution is committed to helping the Unified Health System (SUS). “The hospital unit will join the efforts of the state and municipal governments to expand access to ICU beds and mechanical ventilation, reducing the burden on the health system and, with this, the lethality of the disease”, he informed.

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The construction of the Fiocruz Hospital Center will be divided into two stages, the first of which will take 40 days and will have 100 beds, 50 for intensive care and 50 for semi-intensive care. The expectation is that, at the end of two months, the entire work, with a total of 200 beds, is already completed.

All the beds in the Center will be isolated for aerosol infections (light particles that are suspended in the air) and will be operated under conditions of assistance for highly complex patients. The hospital unit will also have a diagnostic support system for all necessary tests, including imaging, such as computed tomography. The new Hospital Center will function as a reference center, not offering the spontaneous demand of the state. Access will be through the regulatory system of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Hospital Center will also have an extra workforce. The Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development in Health (Fiotec) will invite professionals to work on the new initiative. In this first phase there will be about 600 vacancies for doctors, nurses, nursing technicians and physiotherapists. In a second step, nutritionists, psychologists, social workers and specialists such as cardiologists and nephrologists, and administrative support professionals will also be invited.


WHO launched the trial Solidarity ( Solidarity ) to investigate the efficacy of four drug treatments for COVID-19 and will be implemented in 12 Brazilian states, with support from the Ministry of Health and coordinated by Fiocruz. Only hospitalized patients will be able to participate in the study and will have to sign a consent form.

Initially, the effectiveness of four drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 will be tested: chloroquine, Remdesivir, the combination of liponavir and ritonavir, alone or combined with Interferon Beta 1a. Despite having four defined treatment lines, one of the premises of the study is that it is adaptable, that is, if new evidence emerges, the lines may be adequate, with discontinuation of drugs that prove to be ineffective and incorporation of drugs that may show promising.