COVID-19 spreads across five Brazilian states

The latest Fiocruz InfoGripe Bulletin, released on Thursday (Sep. 12), indicates a rise in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases due to COVID-19, not only in Goiás and São Paulo, but also in Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, and the Federal District.

The Fiocruz study also observed a continued growth in rhinovirus-related SARS cases across many states in the Northeast and Center-South regions, with a notable concentration in Amapá, where most of these severe rhinovirus cases are primarily affecting children and adolescents up to 14 years old.

Tatiana Portella, a researcher at Fiocruz's Scientific Computing Program, warns that due to the high movement of people between the state of São Paulo and other regions of the country, the increase in COVID-19 SARS cases in São Paulo may, in the coming weeks, continue to drive the spread and growth of Sars-CoV-2 (COVID-19) cases in other states.

Over the past four epidemiological weeks, the prevalence among positive cases was 14.4 percent for influenza A, 3.2 percent for influenza B, 9 percent for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), 34.7 percent for rhinovirus, and 32 percent for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

Among the deaths, the prevalence was 25.4 percent for influenza A, 4.1 percent for influenza B, 3.7 percent for RSV, 9.8 percent for rhinovirus, and 50.2 percent for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).