Covid: Health sees current scenario as stable – 09/06/2023 – Health

The Covid situation in Brazil is within normal limits, according to a note released by the Health Ministry this Wednesday (6).

In the note, the Ministry of Health said it was monitoring the fluctuations in Covid cases in the country, which are also occurring in other countries around the world due to the circulation of new subvariants of the virus, such as EG.5 and BA.2.86.

According to the folder, between epidemiological weeks 32 to 35 (from August 6 to September 2), an average of 11,200 cases were recorded per week, while between weeks 28 and 31 (July 9 to August 5) , the average was 11,388 cases per week, representing a variation of 1.7%.

However, in the last four weeks, there has been an increase in tests with a positive result for Covid compared to the previous four weeks, by three percentage points – going from 22% to 25.1% of tests with a positive result.

This variation is within what is expected for the winter period, according to the portfolio. It is important to reinforce that the moving average of deaths is around 150 per week, far below what was observed at the peak of the pandemic, even with the greater circulation of the virus, it is still not an expressive number. The prevention of serious cases and death, in this case, is given by vaccination, says Health.

“Despite the public health emergency decree being revoked, Covid is still a disease that will continue to cause infection and illness. It is essential that the population continues to protect itself with all possibilities so that we can avoid the severity of cases and death”, reinforces Ethel Maciel, Health and Environment Surveillance Secretary.

The epidemiological scenario of Covid continues to be constantly monitored, says the folder, which also provides updated data on the evolution of the disease. Information on cases and deaths is collected from state and municipal health departments, analyzed and disseminated through epidemiological reports and on the Covid platform in the ministry’s Coronavirus panel.

Vaccination remains the main measure to reduce severe cases and deaths caused by the disease. Until last September 5, about 16% of the adult population received the last dose against Covid of the bivalent vaccine, updated with the omicron variant.

The low vaccination coverage is especially worrying in the younger age groups — around 9% of young people aged 18 to 24 sought a booster vaccine. With regard to children, a survey carried out by Observa Infância, from Fiocruz, shows that only 11.4% of children from six months to 5 years old have the complete vaccination schedule.