The world has been turned upside down in the last few months as COVID-19 ravages countries all over the globe. While some countries have successfully  slowed the spread, others have not had as much luck or organization. In the past few weeks, Brazil has reported a shocking rise in cases, effectively taking second place in the world’s most infected countries, just behind the United States. 

Brazil’s Global Stance

Currently, the United States is ranked number one in the world for infected countries, with Brazil climbing the ranks right behind. Last Monday alone, Brazil reported a shocking 14,300 cases. Numbers keep getting even higher, and the country overall has reported 394,507 cases and just over 24,500 deaths. These numbers, however, also largely depend on testing and Brazil is testing fewer than 3,500 people per million, making them, according to Forbes, “definitely the worst one when you look at the infection rates and mortality rates” in the world. Brazil’s infection rate is 1.3, meaning that each infected person spreads it to more than one person on average. While Russia and India have the same infection rate, the difference lies in how coordinated their national lockdowns have been. Brazil has found it hard to coordinate an organized lockdown and set specific guidelines nationwide as COVID-19 has only been one of their worries in recent months. “The country is living its worst public health crisis since the Zika virus outbreak in 2015,” while also having to work through political and economic pressures. 

The State of Affairs in Brazil

Much like the United States, Brazil is “running hearings and political investigations in the middle of a pandemic” while their president, Jair Bolsonaro, reportedly has “more enemies than friends” in the country. He has already lost two health ministers in less than a month after holding crowded political rallies outdoors against their wishes. Local residents have been left to wonder how they can continue to sustain their own families as the government approves and launches an economic stimulus program providing insufficient funds to support families in the long term. With the ongoing investigations and clear political priorities in the country, the president is facing a lot of dissent and distrust from citizens who do not feel the country has done enough to set down hard COVID-19 policies to keep residents safe, especially considering their late response to the pandemic. “Bosonaro’s early decision to deny the severity of the pandemic,” according to Forbes, “led to a haphazard, confused public health response that has divided the country in a time of intense social and economic stress.” Lastly, the Brazilian real is down 31% against the dollar, effectively becoming the worst performing major emerging market currency. 

Brazil is the world’s leading producer and exporter of sugar and coffee, but is facing a two-pronged crisis with a global pandemic and political investigations at the same time. Locals have found outside aid “as much as you can hope for” but still find a shortage of medical supplies such as COVID-19 tests and protective gear. After taking second place in global case count, Brazil is working to create a plan to get the country back on track and contain the virus’s spread among its citizens.