With the closure of stores in general for a long time to face the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of restricted retail sales–which excludes the sale of automobiles and building materials–decreased 16.8% in April, compared to March, according to data from the Monthly Trade Survey (PMC in the acronym in Portuguese), released this Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

It was the worst result in the survey’s historical series, which started in January 2001.

In March, with the first measures of social isolation, the sector had decreased by 2.1% compared to February–a revised drop of 2.5% previously disclosed.

In April, the quarantine extended throughout the month. In São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in addition to other capitals in the country, decrees kept shopping malls and part of street shopping closed, with operations restricted to delivery services.