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Health workers in Brazil’s largest state are begging for help and oxygen supplies after an explosion of Covid deaths and infections that one official compared to a tsunami and said could be linked to a new variant.
Amazonas, and particularly its riverside capital Manaus, were pummeled by the epidemic’s first wave last April, when authorities were forced to dig mass graves for victims.
Related: Covid eruption in Brazil’s largest state leaves health workers begging for help
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
Hospitals in Brazil’s northern state of Amazonas ran short of oxygen and made an urgent call for help from the United States on Thursday.
Amazonas, where nearly 6,000 people have died from Covid-19, is now suffering a devastating second wave that is pushing emergency services to a breaking point.
Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the situation in Manaus, the state’s capital city, was extremely serious, with its hospital system collapsing and oxygen lacking.
