Patients in the emergency room of the Nossa Senhora da Conceição hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil March 11. The emergency room is overcrowded because of the spike in COVID-19 cases. (CNS/Reuters/Diego Vara)
Sao Paulo A second wave of COVID-19 infections has swept Brazil over the past few months, taking the average number of daily deaths to more than 2,500 and causing the collapse of the health care system in several cities.
As the crisis grows, Catholic Church leaders face great challenges in helping those in need and in fighting pandemic denialism, which is often supported by the man many blame for the chaos in the country, President Jair Bolsonaro.