TITLE: Special issue on technologies in support of COVID-19 and the post-pandemic scenario

AutHor(s): DEL MONACO A.D.M.

EDITORIAL: On December 31, 2019, the world scientific community received the first alert from the World Health Organization (WHO) about cases of an atypical respiratory syndrome that was spreading in the city of Wuhan, China. A week later, the Chinese scientific community announced the identification of a new strain of coronavirus. Just 1 month after the first alert, January 30, 2020, the WHO declared that outbreak of a new coronavirus constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the highest alert level of the Organization. It was the sixth time in history that a Public Health Emergency of International Concern has been declared, as had Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks and H1N1 pandemic in 2014. On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was characterized by WHO as a pandemic.

According to consortium of Brazilian press: During the first year of the pandemic in Brazil, from the first confirmed death to the same date following year, one death every two minutes, 32 deaths per hour and 775 deaths per day. Thus, after the first confirmed death on March 17, 2020, the virus claimed 282,127 victims in the country by March 17 of the following year. In June 2020, TAS published a first special edition of its magazine, with central theme in articles related to COVID-19. The world scientific community was entirely focused on understanding and acting on the pandemic in an attempt to avoid deaths and minimize its impacts.

In the second year, in mid-March 2021, Brazil experienced the biggest health and hospital collapse in its history, with 24 states and the Federal District with occupancy rates of ICU beds for infected adult patients equal to or greater than 80%, occupancy is over 90% in 15 states. The records were frightening, with 1,699 confirmed deaths per day, a total that corresponds to 71 deaths per hour.

Today, two years after the beginning of the pandemic, as a result of a worldwide scientific effort in numerous areas, the data are finally positive and most activities have resumed. The healthcare system works out of a state of collapse and overcrowding and is starting to show signs of recovery. In this scenario, it is impossible to measure the importance of science's contribution to preserving and saving lives. These were years of great loss and immense learning. Thus, TAS turns its gaze again to the scientific scenario that is being drawn after these 2 years with a second edition especially focused on technologies in assistance to COVID-19 and the post-pandemic scenario.