The first record of coronavirus in Brazil was on 26th February 2020. A 61-year-old businessman, who lives in Sao Paulo, was infected after returning from a trip, between February 9 and 21, 2020, to the Italian region of Lombardy. The new coronavirus, which had its first confirmed cases from China in late 2019, has been treated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization since 11th March 2020.

Studies indicate that the vast majority of cases of the new coronavirus have mild symptoms and can be treated at health centres or at home. However, new variants have been shown to be more contagious and, in the perception of doctors, have more severely affected a younger population, rather than just the elderly and people with comorbidities.

In 2021, data from the World Health Organization indicate that Brazil is consolidating itself as the new epicentre of the pandemic and registers the largest number of new infections by Covid-19 in the world, within 24 hours. By March 18, 2021, Brazil had recorded a total of 284,775 deaths, and on 17th March 17 2021, a total of 3,149 people died from coronavirus in 24 hours.

In March 2021, only 1.5% of the Brazilian population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the health system of most states is working with more than 100% of beds occupied in ICUs-Covid, and the rest of the population remains in the dichotomy between keeping the economy running or supporting a lockdown to reduce the spread of the virus.