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For immediate release: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Boston, MA – An overall failure in Brazil to implement prompt, coordinated, and equitable responses fueled COVID-19’s spread in a context of stark local socioeconomic and health care inequalities, according to an analysis from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed the fast spread of COVID-19 cases and deaths across Brazilian states over a nine-month period in 2020. Factors at play in the swift and uneven spread of disease included disparities in health resources and income, lack of containment measures, politicization of the pandemic, and varied responses across states and cities. Based on their findings, the researchers warned that the P.1 variant, first documented in Brazil and already fueling a record number of cases and deaths and the near collapse of the hospital system, is likely to spur the emergence of new variants, isolate Brazil as a threat to global health security, and lead to a