(Adds quotes, background, previous BRASILIA)
By Pedro Fonseca and Lisandra Paraguassu
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - One year after the first
confirmed case of the coronavirus in Brazil, Latin America's
biggest country has passed 250,000 COVID-19 deaths, with the
virus still spreading freely as a national vaccination drive
struggles to gain momentum.
President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist who has
railed against lockdown measures while saying he will not take
any COVID-19 vaccine, has been criticized for his response to
the virus.
Brazil has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll
after the United States, and over 10.3 million confirmed cases,
the third-highest outbreak behind the United States and India.
The highly contagious respiratory disease has killed 251,498
people in Brazil, the Health Ministry reported on Thursday
evening, tallying 1,541 deaths in the past 24 hours.
The situation in Brazil appears to be deteriorating, thanks
to a new variant that researchers believe is more contagious.
Over the past two weeks, Brazil has recorded the highest daily
average of coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic -
nearly 1,100 - exceeding the previous peak at the end of July.
"The virus is circulating without any control," said
Christovam Barcellos, of the country's federally funded Fiocruz
biomedical institute, which is manufacturing Brazil's allotment
of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Brazil is experiencing "a second plateau," he said. "It's
not a second wave, because we've been over five weeks with 1,000
deaths per day."
The virus is now spreading mainly through cities in Brazil's
vast interior, officials say, aided by a lack of national or
even local lockdowns, which means Brazilians are moving freely
across the continent-sized country.
That has been crucial for the spread of the new variant from
Amazonas state, which has caused international alarm and led to
a frosty reception for Brazilians hoping to travel
internationally. According to the Health Ministry, the new
strain has been identified in at least 17 Brazilian states.
After a slow and politically turbulent start, Brazil has
managed to begin vaccinations, with over 7.5 million shots given
so far in a country of more than 210 million people.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech
Ltd, currently Brazil's main tool to slow the virus, is
effective against the UK and South African variants, the
vaccine's Brazilian partner said last week, with tests ongoing
to see if it works on the Amazonas variant.
But Brazil is struggling to get hold of enough vaccines amid
a global scramble for supplies. The Health Ministry, which only
has two supply contracts, has so far received just 16 million
doses.
(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro and Lisandra
Paraguassu in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle;
Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Brad Haynes and Peter
Cooney)