Percentage of SARS caused by COVID-19 down in Brazil

The percentage of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases caused by COVID-19 sank to its lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, as per data from InfoGripe, a report by Brazil’s research foundation Fiocruz.

Back in 2021, at the most critical moments of the pandemic, 96 percent of viral cases of SARS were caused by COVID-19, compared to 50 percent in the last four weeks. COVID-19 is giving way to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which reached 29.7 percent of the cases in this period.

Despite the retreat of COVID-19 among viral cases of SARS, the disease still accounts for 91.3 percent of deaths if one includes the cases of the syndrome testing positive for respiratory viruses in the last four weeks.

If the whole of 2022 is taken into account, 56.7 percent of the 107 thousand recorded cases of SARS had laboratory results confirming some respiratory virus. Among these, 5.5 percent were caused by Influenza A, 0.1 percent by Influenza B, 3.9 percent by RSV, and 86.7 percent by Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The incidence of SARS in children kept up its upward trend, with sharp surges observed across several Brazilian states since February. The report states that the figures ascribe the increase to the incidence of RSV among children aged up to four. Among kids aged five through 11, on the other hand, the reduction in cases linked to SARS-CoV-2 has been interrupted, whereas those associated with other respiratory viruses have increased.