The coronavirus initially came to Brazil through airports and ran rampant through its densely populated coastal cities.

But now the virus has mushroomed from the populous favelas of major coastal metropolises and has spread to inland cities and poor, rural communities.

Fatalities are also rising outside major cities and now account for about half of all daily deaths in Brazil.

But for those who can travel, the fear is also that the infected will make their way to the major cities for treatment, triggering a tsunami of new patients for hospitals already under siege.

Dr Croda warns that if Brazil were to continue along this path — with an increase in the number of cases and deaths — it is likely they will "surpass the United States in the next one to two months".

She's not alone, with large swathes of Brazilians travelling from poorer inland communities to the large coastal cities for work each day.

Yet, despite the rising cases, Brazil's major cities have moved to reopen businesses in an attempt to reboot their ailing economies.

While Brazil has captured global attention for its staggeringly frightening headlines, much of Latin America has also been under attack from the virus.

The Venezuelan-born, Massachusetts-based biologist warned the world would never know the true extent of the virus's reach in Latin America.

"We have deaths as our outcome to measure the impact, but how much penetration COVID-19 has in different parts of Latin America will always remain unknown."

They're not even through the first, with most of Latin America still seeing its daily cases and deaths rise

For Ms de Andrade Souza, who like many other Brazilians faces the threat of the coronavirus both at home and work, she no longer has hope her government will act