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What Do We Remember About the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil?

Mariana Cabral Campos

Joint PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo and King's

18 May 2026

On 11 May 2026 President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned bill nº 2.120/2022 [1], establishing 12 March as the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Covid-19 [2]. The bill, presented by Congressman Pedro Uczai (Workers Party) in August 2022, was not the first one proposed.

Bill nº 3819/2021 had been presented by the Senate’s Inquiry Commission on COVID-19 (CPI da covid-19) [3] and is still under consideration. The unusually long time spent on the bill’s approval [4] placed it in the motions of the also long-awaited memorial – “ Memorial da Pandemia”, announced by ex-Minister of Health Nísia Trindade back in August 2023 [5] and inaugurated on 7 April 2026 [6]. These efforts work in tandem with previous governmental thematic initiatives of COVID-19 memorialisation [7], however, Brazil lacked a comprehensive effort by the federal government that could address the devastating consequences of the crisis. In this context, these developments emerged as the most significant measures to date.

The memorial, especially, appears as a landmark of COVID-19 memory initiatives, since it should allow for a more complex and in-depth discussion of the pandemic in its various implications. It also comprised the involvement of important partners in its elaboration, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), victims’ organisations – namely, AVICO and the Live and Justice Association [8] –, and many dedicated researchers. They met on different occasions to discuss what COVID-19 memory should look like, most notably the Seminar March 11-12, 2024, held by the MoH, from which a report has been published [9]. The 7 April inauguration showcased 5 products of these efforts, with two more to be launched at later dates [10].

Products of the COVID-19 memorial – “Memorial da Pandemia” [11]

“Cada nome uma vida” (Each name, a life), by Gustavo Godoy: the piece is comprised of a metal map of Brazil in which metal bars, placed in each region and sized to represent its COVID-19 deaths, display the names of COVID-19 victims through a constantly moving digital screen. [12]
“Flor do Tempo” (Flower of Time), by Danilo Andrade Freitas: the aluminium and concrete abstract sculpture was selected with AVICO’s assistance through a public notice. It represents the network of communication outlets, the unified health system (SUS) workers, scientists and other “essential” workers to support people during the pandemic. [13]
A “Zé Gotinha” [14] themed playground and a sculpture by its creator, Darlan Rosa
A national guide on post-COVID care [15]
A digital memorial, sharing COVID-19-related academic publications and a collection of 5 projects concerning different aspects of people’s lived experiences during the pandemic. [16]

These efforts follow many other initiatives, derived from private and public mobilisation, that began the claim for homage and memorialisation of the COVID-19 crisis in Brazil. For instance, Reis et al. [17] identified 147 COVID-19 memory initiatives shared publicly in Brazil until January 2024. Besides those, projects like “Acervo da Pandemia de Covid-19” (Covid-19 Pandemic Archive) by the research group SouCiência [18] or the projects led by CEPEDISA –“Boletins Diretos na Pandemia” (Rights During the Pandemic Bulletins) [19] and the book “Pandemia de covid-19: políticas públicas de memória, verdade, justiça, reparação e não repetição” (The COVID-19 pandemic: public policies on memory, truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition) [20] – are examples of truth-seeking efforts to consolidate a collective memory around the pandemic and its management. The state sponsorship set the new memorial and the announcement of the remembrance day apart from these, and it carried the responsibility of becoming landmarks on the topic.

In light of this role, it is important to recognise that these initiatives still have to address the issue of responsibility. The context of neglect and mismanagement of the Bolsonaro administration [21] is a necessary step to understand what happened during the pandemic because: a) it informs our perception of what happened as something preventable, placing blame on the actions of those responsible rather than the virus; b) it provides accountability for the survivors and the family members of victims, recognising their claim for justice and reparation over the wrongdoing that led to their suffering; and c) it allows us to evaluate systemic features that allowed it to happen and, hence, make the necessary chances to avoid repetition in the future. Therefore, there are steps still needed to realise a dedicated memory policy for COVID-19 in Brazil; one that can construct “a narrative that includes and recognises the suffering of part of the population”, by “incorporating stories that the former holders of power would have preferred to silence.” [22]

[1] PL 2120/2022, Institui o Dia Nacional em Memória das Vítimas da COVID-19, Brasil. Camara dos Deputados, accessed 14 May 2026, https://www.camara.leg.br/proposicoesWeb/fichadetramitacao?idProposicao=2333334.

[2] Brasil. Ministério da Saúde. ‘Governo do Brasil institui Dia Nacional em Memória das Vítimas da Covid-19 e promove homenagens em monumentos de seis capitais do país’, 11 May 2026, https://www.gov.br/saude/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2026/maio/governo-do-brasil-institui-dia-nacional-em-memoria-das-vitimas-da-covid-19-e-promove-homenagens-em-monumentos-de-seis-capitais-do-pais.

[3] See Senado Federal Brasil, ‘CPIPANDEMIA - CPI Da Pandemia - Atividade Legislativa - Senado Federal’, accessed 18 December 2025, https://legis.senado.leg.br/atividade/comissoes/comissao/2441/.

[4] Deisy de Freitas Lima Ventura et al., Pandemia de covid-19: políticas públicas de memória, verdade, justiça, reparação e não repetição (Cepedisa, 2026), https://cepedisa.fsp.usp.br/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Pandemia-de-covid-19.pdf.

[5] See Brasil Ministério da Cultura, ‘Ministério Da Saúde Anuncia Memorial Para Vítimas Da Covid-19’, Centro Cultural Do Ministério Da Saúde, 20 July 2023, http://www.ccms.saude.gov.br/noticias/ministerio-da-saude-anuncia-memorial-para-vitimas-da-covid-19.

[6] See Brasil Ministério da Saúde, ‘Brasil Cria Memorial Da Pandemia Em Homenagem Às Mais de 700 Mil Vítimas Da Covid-19 — Ministério Da Saúde’, Gov.Br, 7 April 2026, https://www.gov.br/saude/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2026/abril/brasil-cria-memorial-da-pandemia-em-homenagem-as-mais-de-700-mil-vitimas-da-covid-19.

[7] E.g. Agência Senado, ‘Senado inaugura memorial em homenagem a vítimas da covid-19 no Brasil’, Senado Federal, 15 February 2022, https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2022/02/15/senado-inaugura-memorial-em-homenagem-a-vitimas-da-covid-19-no-brasil; Brasil Ministério da Saúde, ‘Tour virtual da exposição Trajetórias do Cuidado: a força do SUS diante da pandemia de Covid-19’, Centro Cultural do Ministério da Saúde., 3 December 2025, http://www.ccms.saude.gov.br/videos/tour-virtual-da-exposicao-trajetorias-do-cuidado-forca-do-sus-diante-da-pandemia-de-covid-19.

[8] See https://avicobrasil.com.br/ and https://www.xn--vidaejustia-v9a.org.br/, respectively, for more information on these organisations agendas and actions.

[9] Ministério da Saúde, Relatório do Seminário Memorial da Pandemia de Covid-19 (Ministério da Saúde, 2024), https://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/relatorio_seminario_memorial_pandemiacovid19.pdf.

[10] Ministério da Saúde, ‘Brasil Cria Memorial Da Pandemia Em Homenagem Às Mais de 700 Mil Vítimas Da Covid-19 — Ministério Da Saúde’; Raquel Pereira and Bernardo Yoneshigue, ‘Mais de 700 Mil Mortos: Memorial é Inaugurado No Rio Em Homenagem Às Vítimas Da Covid-19’, O Globo, 7 April 2026, https://oglobo.globo.com/saude/noticia/2026/04/07/mais-de-700-mil-mortos-memorial-e-inaugurado-no-rio-em-homenagem-as-vitimas-da-covid-19.ghtml.

[11] All the original artwork titles have been translated by the author.

[12] Ministério da Saúde, ‘Brasil Cria Memorial Da Pandemia Em Homenagem Às Mais de 700 Mil Vítimas Da Covid-19 — Ministério Da Saúde’; Pereira and Yoneshigue, ‘Mais de 700 Mil Mortos: Memorial é Inaugurado No Rio Em Homenagem Às Vítimas Da Covid-19’.

[13] Hamurabi Dias, ‘Arquiteto e artista plástico feirense Danilo Freitas é autor de obra no Memorial da Pandemia’, Grupo Lomes de Comunicação, 13 May 2026, https://glomes.com.br/arquiteto-e-artista-plastico-feirense-danilo-freitas-e-autor-de-obra-no-memorial-da-pandemia/.

[14] “Zé Gotinha” is a popular character created to help the poliomyelitis eradication campaign in 1986 and used in childhood vaccination campaigns nation-wide ever since.

[15] Brasil Ministério da Saúde, ‘Guia Nacional de Manejo das Condiçoes Pós-Covid no Âmbito do SUS’, Diretoria de Programa do Ministro de Estado da Saúde. Gabinete do Ministro. Ministério da Saúde, 2026, https://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/guia_manejo_pos_covid_sus.pdf.

[16] See https://memorialdigitalcovid19.org.br/.

[17] Reis, Rossana Rocha, Cristiane Ribeiro Pereira, and Mariana Cabral Campos. ‘Por uma política de memória da pandemia de covid-19 no Brasil: análise crítica de iniciativas memoriais no contexto da democracia brasileira’. Rev. Direito and Práxis 16, no. 03 (2025). https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/revistaceaju/article/download/88955/54191/344918..

[18] See https://acervopandemia-souciencia.unifesp.br/sobre/.

[19] See https://cepedisa.fsp.usp.br/?page_id=162.

[20] Deisy de Freitas Lima Ventura et al., Pandemia de covid-19: políticas públicas de memória, verdade, justiça, reparação e não repetição (Cepedisa, 2026), https://cepedisa.fsp.usp.br/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Pandemia-de-covid-19.pdf.

[21] See João Biehl et al., ‘Supreme Court v. Necropolitics: The Chaotic Judicialization of COVID-19 in Brazil’, Health and Human Right Journal 23, no. 1 (2021): 151–62, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8233022/; Deisy de Freitas Lima Ventura et al., ‘Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sustainability Is an Indispensable Condition of Global Health Security’, Ambiente & Sociedade 23 (2020): e0108, https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-4422asoc20200108vu2020l3id; Jesem Douglas Yamall Orellana et al., ‘Negligência sanitária, negacionismo, subnotificação de mortes por covid-19 e riscos à saúde comunitária na pandemia: o trágico caso de Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil’, in Sociedade de Riscos Sanitários, 1st edn, ed. Jodival Mauricio da Costa et al. (CRV, 2023), https://doi.org/10.24824/978652513967.8; The Lancet, ‘COVID-19 in Brazil: “So What?”’, The Lancet 395, no. 10235 (2020): 1461, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31095-3; Senado Federal Brasil, CPI da Pandemia. Relatório Final (Senado Federal, 2021), 1288, https://legis.senado.leg.br/atividade/comissoes/comissao/2441/; Deisy Ventura et al., ‘Covid-19 como tema de memória, verdade e justiça: entrevista com Deisy Ventura’, História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos 30, no. suppl 1 (2023): e2023053, https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-59702023000100053; Ventura et al., Pandemia de covid-19.

[22] Reis et al., ‘Por uma política de memória da pandemia de covid-19 no Brasil: análise crítica de iniciativas memoriais no contexto da democracia brasileira’, 8.

About the author

Mariana Cabral Campos is a PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo's Institute of International Relations (IRI/USP) and at King's College London Brazil Institute, with funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). Associate researcher at the Centre for Research in Health Law (CEPEDISA/USP) and the IRP ALCOM group (USP/Paris 1-Sorbonne/Unifesp/Unisinos). Her ongoing project investigates experiences of mourning and memorialisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that, as a mass death event, it provoked an unequal distribution of death that reproduces vulnerabilities and denies rights and recognition to specific, historically marginalized, bodies and territories.

References

Agência Senado. ‘Senado inaugura memorial em homenagem a vítimas da covid-19 no Brasil’. Senado Federal, 15 February 2022. https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/materias/2022/02/15/senado-inaugura-memorial-em-homenagem-a-vitimas-da-covid-19-no-brasil.

Biehl, João, Lucas E. A. Prates, and Joseph J. Amon. ‘Supreme Court v. Necropolitics: The Chaotic Judicialization of COVID-19 in Brazil’. Health and Human Right Journal 23, no. 1 (2021): 151–62. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8233022/.

Brasil, Ministério da Saúde. ‘Governo do Brasil institui Dia Nacional em Memória das Vítimas da Covid-19 e promove homenagens em monumentos de seis capitais do país’. Ministério da Saúde, 11 May 2026. https://www.gov.br/saude/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2026/maio/governo-do-brasil-institui-dia-nacional-em-memoria-das-vitimas-da-covid-19-e-promove-homenagens-em-monumentos-de-seis-capitais-do-pais.

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Pereira, Raquel, and Bernardo Yoneshigue. ‘Mais de 700 Mil Mortos: Memorial é Inaugurado No Rio Em Homenagem Às Vítimas Da Covid-19’. O Globo, 7 April 2026. https://oglobo.globo.com/saude/noticia/2026/04/07/mais-de-700-mil-mortos-memorial-e-inaugurado-no-rio-em-homenagem-as-vitimas-da-covid-19.ghtml.

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