Brazil’s Amazonas state braces for another COVID surge

Health officials in the Brazilian Amazon, still reeling from health system collapse, fear a third wave is on the way.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – When Rosa Dos Anjos was admitted to a COVID-19 intensive care unit in the Amazonian capital of Manaus for 15 days in January, she thought her fortunes could not possibly get any worse. The 50 year old had already lost her father to the virus during a deadly first wave of the pandemic last year – and Dos Anjos was fighting for her life as oxygen supplies ran out and the healthcare system collapsed all around her. While she narrowly survived, her family’s struggle is far from over, as her 41-year-old brother also contracted the disease and saw his oxygen saturation levels plunge to 80 percent in April, the deadliest month in Brazil since the pandemic began.