With The New Peak of Covid-19, Hospitals in Manaus Are Overcrowded, with Stretchers Placed along The Corridors and A Lack of Distancing

With 100% occupancy of the beds reserved for coronavirus patients, private hospitals are pressuring the public sector

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Monica Prestes
Manaus

The increase in the number of patients with Covid-19 in Manaus (AM) has resulted in a scenario of overcrowding, lack of hospital beds, stretchers placed along the corridors, and absence of distancing within the city's health units.

The scenario also includes the resting areas for health professionals being dislocated to bathrooms, and a cafeteria placed inside the infirmary, next to inpatients, and without any sanitary safety.

These are just some of the scenes recorded and reported by patients and health professionals who work in the main public hospitals in Manaus, which are known to be a reference for the treatment of the disease and have been receiving great demand from the private sector.

People are seen at the entrance of the Vinte Oito de Agosto Public Hospital, a unit treating people infected with the novel coronavirus COVID-19, in Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil, on January 4, 2021. - The coronavirus has killed at least 1,843,631 people worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally on Monday based on official sources. The US is the worst-affected country with 351,590 deaths, followed by Brazil with 196,018. (Photo by Michael DANTAS / AFP) - AFP

From December 21 to January 3 there were 1,172 new admissions for patients with Covid-19 in Manaus, according to the epidemiological bulletin of FVS-AM (Foundation for Sanitary Surveillance of Amazonas) from Sunday (3).

The occupancy rate of intensive care beds in the public network reached 92% this Monday (4), with a new record of hospitalizations in 24 hours since the beginning of the pandemic in Manaus: a total of 177.

Translated by Cassy Dias

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