South America's biggest country has for weeks been choking on pollution along with much of the rest of the continent battling extreme drought and record fires.
Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burnt in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.
The Amazon basin, usually one of the wettest places on Earth, is experiencing its worst fires in nearly two decades, according to the EU's Copernicus observatory.
And last week, satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80 percent of Brazil affected by smoke.
"I am a smoker but I've been coughing more than usual," student Luan Monteiro, 20, told AFP in the port of Rio de Janeiro.
Indeed, experts say that inhaling smoke from the fires has effects comparable to smoking four or five cigarettes a day.
Air pollution can worsen bronchitis and asthma, and the risk is greater the longer the exposure, according to pediatrician Renato Kfouri, vice president of the Brazilian Immunizations Society.
In one of the biggest hospitals in the capital Brasilia, the number of patients treated for respiratory problems in recent days was more than 20 times higher than usual.
- 'I put on my mask' -
In Brasilia, which has seen 160 days without rain, homemaker Valderes Loyola said she had bought a fan she uses to blow over wet towels and buckets of water to try and add some moisture to the dry air.
"When I go out, I put on my mask," the 72-year-old told AFP.
Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest metropolis, for several days last week was ranked the world's most polluted city by Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir.
At least 40 percent of residents of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, and 29 percent in Rio de Janeiro say their health was affected "very much" by pollution, according to pollsters Datafolha.
Internet searches for "air quality" reached record levels in Brazil in recent days, according to the Google Trends tool, which also reported an increase searches for "humidifier" and "air purifier."
Experts warn about outdated air quality monitoring in Brazil, and a dearth of emergency plans to deal with smoke pollution.
Less than 2.0 percent of municipalities have air monitoring stations, Evangelina Araujo of the Instituto Ar pollution think tank told AFP.
And only one in five can detect the fine particles found in smoke that should trigger health warnings.
Authorities blame human activity for most of the recent fires in Brazil -- where they are often linked to land clearing for agriculture.
Neighboring Bolivia on Monday declared a national disaster due to forest fires affecting most of its Santa Cruz department, where authorities said 7.2 million hectares have burned since last week.
Two killed fighting wildfire in Greece
Athens (AFP) Sept 30, 2024 -
Two men have died in central Greece while trying to help firefighters tackle a forest fire that has forced several villages to be evacuated, authorities said Monday.
The fire near Corinth, 140 kilometres (87 miles) west of Athens, was still burning on Monday, fanned by fierce winds.
Smoke from the fire, which burned several homes and a church, hovered over the capital throughout Monday.
Anastasios Giolis, the deputy governor of Corinth, told public broadcaster ERT that two men were killed fighting the flames, calling it a "tragic accident".
The charred bodies of the men, aged 35 and 40, were found near the village of Elliniko, according to media reports.
Two firefighters were slightly injured, fire services told AFP.
The fire broke out on Sunday and spread rapidly due to strong winds and high temperatures, making it "difficult to control", the fire services said.
A dozen localities near the fire have been told to evacuate, including Pyrgos, Elliniko and Kallithea.
Nearly 400 firefighters were fighting the blaze on Monday, according to the fire brigade.
The task of extinguishing the flames was complicated by the area's dense vegetation and hilly terrain.
- Record heat -
Numerous regions of Greece were placed on an orange fire alert on Sunday and Monday due to winds reaching speeds of 50 to 75 kilometres an hour (80-120 mph).
The fire department said over 50 rural fires had broken out over the past 24 hours.
Scientists have warned for years that human-induced climate change is driving longer-lasting, more intense and more frequent heatwaves, droughts and other extreme weather events.
Greece experienced drought and early heatwaves this year and has seen a sharp rise in wildfires this summer.
There were 50 percent more wildfires between May and the end of August this year than there were during the same period in 2023, according to the government.
On Sunday, the temperature was 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in Athens, though the heat is expected to recede later in the week.
The Mediterranean country recorded its warmest winter and the hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960.
In August, a massive blaze near Marathon, 40 kilometres northeast of Athens, killed one person and forced thousands to flee their homes.
It took hundreds of firefighters three days to control the fire, which reached the suburbs of the Greek capital.
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