Brazil has the highest rate of Coronavirus contagion among 48 countries analyzed by Imperial College in London. The indicator, also called R0, shows how many people each infected person transmits the disease.
The higher the transmission speed, the greater the risk of possible overload in the health system.
In the week that started on Monday (26), the R0 of Brazil was 2.81, that is, each infected person transmits the disease to about three people, according to the estimates of the university's infectious diseases center (MRC), one of the most respected in the analysis of epidemics.
In several countries around the world, governments have considered that mobility restrictions can only be relaxed without risk to the health system if the reproduction number is below 1.
In Germany, considered one of the most successful nations in controlling the disease, the number of reproduction calculated by the MRC is 0.8 (with a range from 0.65 to 1.14).
Alongside the United States, Brazil is one of the only two countries with a forecast of more than 5,000 deaths for the next week, and the trend is for growth in contagions, according to the study, signed by 47 researchers.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon