In face of the current pandemic scenario in Brazil, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) released on March 16 an extraordinary edition of the COVID-19 Observatory Bulletin. The analysis draws attention to the indicators that point to an extremely critical situation across the country. At the moment, out of the 27 federative units, 24 states and the Federal District have occupancy rates for ICU COVID-19 beds for adults in the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS, in the Portuguese acronym) equal to or greater than 80%, 15 of which with rates equal to or greater than 90%. In relation to capital cities, 25 of the 27 have these rates equal to or higher than 80%, 19 of which are higher than 90%.