In the same week that President Jair Bolsonaro revealed that he had contracted the novel coronavirus, the transmission of pathogen in Brazil accelerated again, concluding almost four months without control. This is according to calculations by the infectious disease analysis center at Imperial College.
The contagion rate shows how many people, on average, each infected another person gone from 1.03 to 1.11. So every 100 people infected with the virus transmitted the pathogen to 111, instead of 103, as in the previous week.
As the rate is above 1, the disease spreads faster and faster, instead of coming back. The 111 contaminated the transmission to another 123.21, which in turn infected 136.76 more, spreading the virus with increasing speed. It is the 11th straight week in which the Brazilian contagion rate is above 1.
In South America, in addition to Brazil, four other countries have rates above 1: Argentina, which fell from 1.37 to 1.13, Colombia, which fell from 1.45 to 1.19, and in Bolivia, which increased from 1.23 to 1.5. Ecuador is at 1.39.
Two others show a decreasing contagion speed: Peru, with 0.99, and Chile, where the indexes fell from 0.87 to 0.75.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon