A Portuguese (PT) translation of this policy memo is also available – see above.

This policy brief summarises findings and recommendations emerging from the working paper 'Do Brazil’s COVID-19 government response measures meet the WHO’s criteria for policy easing?', which aims to provide policymakers in Brazil with helpful information as they face difficult choices about easing social distancing policies, and respond in other ways to the country’s COVID-19 outbreak.

The author draws from an account of the strength of COVID-19 response policies adopted by Brazil’s federative units; mobile-phone mobility data; and the original results of a survey of 1,654 citizens across eight state capitals – Fortaleza, Goiânia, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and São Paulo.

The research probed the extent to which the World Health Organization’s (WHO) six recommendations for relaxing distancing measures had been realised in these eight cities.

This policy memo includes the key findings that speak to each recommendation; findings about the economic and educational costs of the response policies; and findings related to the extent that response policies have affected mobility.

About the author

Beatriz Kira, Senior Research and Policy Officer, Blavatnik School of Government