US, Brazil leads the coronavirus deaths

Countries with the most recorded Coronavirus deaths
No.	Country	Deaths	Deaths per 100k population
1	US	555,000	170
2	Brazil	332,000	159
3	Mexico	204,000	162
4	India	165,000	12
5	UK	126,000	190
6	Italy	111,000	184
7	Russia	99,000	69
8	France	97,000	145
9	Germany	77,000	93
	Source: John Hopkins University, Gov.Uk dashboard, ONS, 7 April

Brazil’s rapid spread of the P1 coronavirus variant has been a major cause for concern around the world as Brazil has recorded more than 330, 000 deaths from Covid second only to the United States. Brazil president Joe Bolsonaro joked the Pfizer jab may “turn people into crocodiles”, dismissed the opportunity to purchase millions of vaccine doses, and told people to “ stop Whining” about the situation, as continues to oppose lockdowns, but his government has now stepped up its drive to vaccine the country’s population of more than 200 million. The Brazilian government has ordered 100 million doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinovac despite President Bolsonaro criticising it in the past. Brazil has in-country production of Oxford-AstraZenca vaccine, which the government says will eventually provide millions of jabs- but lacks active ingredients needed to make the vaccine means the initial production in Brazilian labs has been limited.

A recent estimate from the University of Washington predicted that Brazil could see a total of more than 500, 000 deaths by July 2021. Hospital intensive care beds in many states across the country are full or close to capacity, and first time in history the public health system has collapsed. Chile has vaccinated 59,1 per cent of its population compared to Brazil’s 10.8.