(CNN) As supplies run low in Brazilian hospitals, one coastal town says it may be forced to take Covid-19 patients off their ventilators due to shortages in the medicines used for intubation. And Brazil's National Association of Private Hospitals (ANAHP) has predicted that private hospitals will run out of medicines necessary for intubating Covid-19 patients by Monday. In the coastal town of Sao Sebastiao, in Sao Paulo state, Mayor Felipe Augusto this weekend resorted to public appeals for more supplies from the state government. On Saturday, Sao Paulo state health department predicted that public hospitals' stocks of drugs used for intubation would only last another week. In August 2020, a report by the National Health Council -- an agency linked to Brazil's Health Ministry -- described the risk of a drug shortage amid the pandemic.

Source: CNN March 21, 2021 22:40 UTC