Brazil Urges "Delay Pregnancy Plans" Amid COVID-19 Variant Spread

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The Brazilian government recently advised postponing pregnancy plans, stating that the spreading variant of the COVID-19 virus may be more dangerous to pregnant women than the original virus.

On the 16th (local time), according to major foreign media, Rafael Parente, an official from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, said at a press conference, "If possible, pregnancy should be postponed until the situation improves," adding, "According to the medical community, the new variant virus appears to be more aggressive to pregnant women."

Most pregnant women diagnosed with COVID-19 were in their third trimester (29?40 weeks), but recent investigations revealed cases of patients in the second trimester (13?28 weeks) experiencing severe symptoms, and occasionally women in the first trimester (0?12 weeks) as well.

This recommendation follows the spread of the Brazilian variant virus (P.1), known to be more contagious than the original COVID-19 virus. The P.1 virus, first identified in Manaus, the capital city of Amazonas in northern Brazil, is rapidly spreading mainly across South American countries. It has recently been identified as the main cause of raising Brazil's cumulative COVID-19 death toll to 350,000.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Brazil currently has approximately 13.83 million cumulative COVID-19 cases and about 368,000 cumulative deaths. Notably, infections among younger people have increased, with more than half of the patients admitted to intensive care units in Brazil last month being under 40 years old.