The Brazilian government needs to enforce “serious social measures” to contain the virus before it overwhelms its health facilities, World Health Organization (WHO)  Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the body’s weekly COVID-19 briefing.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsanaro continues to downplay the pandemic despite the country reaching its highest death rate in the past week and having the second-highest death rate in the world after the US.

“Starting from the government, all the stakeholders should really take it seriously,” added Tedros, warning that pandemic threatened neighbouring countries, most of which had the pandemic under control.

“There should be clear messages from the authorities on what the situation is, and what measures people should take and enforce those measures with full participation of the health system,” said Tedros.

Mike Ryan, WHO’s executive director of health emergencies, reported that ICU bed occupancy had reached over 96% in the midwest and south of the country, and there was very little “resilience” left in the health system.

Despite Deaths, Bolsanaro Tells Citizens to Stop Whining

Despite the grim situation, complicated by a fast-spreading variant named P.1,  Bolsonaro told citizens in the midwestern state of Goiás last week to “stop all this fussing and whining” about the pandemic.

In a veiled reference to the Brazilian president’s poor handling of the pandemic, Tedros said that the rapid spread of COVID-19 was “contrary to our expectations” given the country’s relatively strong health system based on primary healthcare.

Meanwhile, the P.1 variant circulating in Brazil “has a number of mutations that confer increased transmissibility” and it appeared to be more easily transmitted and possibly more severe, added WHO’s COVID-19 response lead Maria Van Kerkhove.

On Tuesday, Brazil registered a record daily number of deaths due to COVID-19 and hospitals are buckling under the strain of widespread infections from the coronavirus. The country’s Health Ministry reported 1,972 fatalities and more than 70,000 new COVID-19 cases. 

The strain on Brazil’s health system is immense. One Brazilian health care provider dies of the coronavirus every 19 hours, according to the latest Brazilian government statistics. 

Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, in São Paulo, told The World’s Marco Werman (🎧) that his colleagues are under such immense stress that many feel as though they’ve spent the past year in a war zone.

“If I can be totally frank … I got a shivering to my body,” Nicolelis said. “You know, it is probably the worst loss of health professionals in the world. It probably is the worst in the world.”

WHO Gives J&J Emergency Use Listing

The WHO gave emergency use listing (EUL) to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday making it the first single-dose vaccine to qualify, Tedros told the weekly COVID-19 briefing.

EUL is a prerequisite for a vaccine to be procured by the global distribution platform, COVAX, which has already pre-ordered 500 million J&J doses in anticipation of its approval.

“We hope that this new vaccine will help to narrow vaccine inequalities and not deepen them,” said Tedros, adding that COVAX looks forward to receiving these doses “as soon possible”.

However, the WHO’s approval of J&J came a day after its approval by the European Union Medicines Agency (EMA), which also has a significant order with the company and it is unclear which orders will get precedent, according to Health Policy Watch.

WHO special advisor Bruce Aylward and the body’s COVAX representative said that COVAX “is trying to work with the company” to get the vaccine by July.

While COVAX has delivered almost 30 million doses to 38 low- and middle income in the past two weeks, it represents barely over 10% of the 335 million doses administered globally, three-quarters of which have taken place in only 10 countries, said Tedros.

“The inequitable distribution of vaccines remains the biggest threat to ending the pandemic and driving a global recovery,” he added.

Meanwhile, a shortage of supplies such as glass vials is limiting the production of COVID-19 vaccines and could also “put the supply of routine childhood vaccines at risk’, said Tedros

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the WHO was ready to help J&J and any other vaccine manufacturers to expand their capacity, adding that COVAX partner the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), had identified “fill and finish capacity that is immediately available to any company to expand supplies”.