COVID-19 mortality in Brazil, 2020-21: consequences of the pandemic inadequate management

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic brought countless challenges to public health and highlighted the Brazilian health system vulnerabilities in facing the emergency. In this article, we analyze data on COVID-19-related deaths in 2020-21 to show the epidemic consequences in Brazil. METHODS: The Mortality Information System and the Live Birth Information System were the primary information sources. We used population estimates in 2020-21 to calculate COVID-19 specific mortality rates by age, sex, and educational level. Considering the total number of COVID-19 deaths in 2020-21, the COVID-19 proportional mortality (%) was estimated for each age group and sex. A graph of the daily number of deaths from January 2020 to December 2021 by sex was elaborated to show the temporal evolution of COVID-19 deaths in Brazil. In addition, four indicators related to COVID-19 mortality were estimated: infant mortality rate (IMR); maternal mortality ratio (MMR); number and rate of orphans due to mother’s COVID-19 death; the average number of years lost. RESULTS: The overall COVID-19 mortality rate was 14.8 (/10,000). The mortality rates increase with age and show a decreasing gradient with higher schooling. The rate among illiterate people was 38.8/10,000, three times higher than a college education. Male mortality was 31% higher than female mortality. COVID-19 deaths represented 19.1% of all deaths, with the highest proportions in the age group of 40-59 years. The average number of years lost due to COVID-19 was 19 years. The MMR due to COVID-19 was 35.7 per 100,000 live births (LB), representing 37.4% of the overall MMR. Regarding the number of orphans due to COVID-19, we estimated that 40,830 children under 18 lost their mothers during the epidemic, with an orphans’ rate of 7.5/10,000 children aged 0-17 years. The IMR was 11.7 per 1000 LB, with 0.2 caused by COVID-19. The peak of COVID-19 deaths occurred in March 2021, reaching almost 4000 COVID-19 deaths per day, higher than the average number of deaths per day from all causes in 2019. CONCLUSIONS: The delay in adopting public health measures necessary to control the epidemic has exacerbated the spread of the disease, resulting in several avoidable deaths. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-022-01012-z.