Cases spike in Brazil as it reports its first death
Health officials in Brazil reported a sharp rise in confirmed cases and the country’s first coronavirus-related death on Tuesday. The 62-year-old patient who died had diabetes and high blood pressure, and was not among the confirmed cases health officials were tracking.
As of Tuesday, officials said, Brazil had 290 confirmed cases and suspected there were several thousand more.
Brazil and several of its neighbors announced new actions to fight the spread of the virus. Airlines suspended international flights and local officials curbed train and bus service. Following Colombia’s lead, Brazil closed its border with Venezuela.
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, who declared a nationwide quarantine on Monday, requested a $5 billion assistance package from the International Monetary Fund, an institution he has previously disparaged.
Reporting was contributed by Apoorva Mandvilli, Eric Lipton, Ben Protess, Monica Davey, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Michael D. Shear, Maggie Haberman, Ernesto Londoño, Pam Belluck, Michael Cooper, Katie Rogers, Karen Zraick, Anton Troianovski, Matthew Haag, Sean Plambeck, Patricia Mazzei, Adeel Hassan, Kate Taylor, Catie Edmondson, Christina Goldbaum, Reid J. Epstein, Steven Lee Myers, Margot Sanger-Katz, Sarah Kliff, Alicia Parlapiano, Alan Rappeport, Emily Cochrane, Melissa Eddy, Raphael Minder, Aurelien Breeden, Marc Santora, Helene Cooper, Megan Specia, Jonathan Martin, Richard C. Paddock, Maya Salam, Neil Vigdor, Nick Corasaniti, Stephanie Saul, Tiffany May, Patricia Cohen, Jeffrey Gettleman, Suhasini Raj, Karan Deep Singh, Kai Schultz, Niki Kitsantonis and Jim Tankersley.