Johns Hopkins University removes Brazil from global map of coronavirus information.
The decision was made after the Bolsonaro government decided to manipulate the statistics to hide the true number of deaths.
247 - The number of cases and deaths in Brazil displayed in the global survey by Johns Hopkins University, a leading authority on Covid-19, were removed from the ranking this Saturday. In a statement, the University says the exclusion is due to the suspension of the publication of historical data by the Ministry of Health. The national portal underwent changes after going offline. Learn more about the case:
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The Jair Bolsonaro government is seeking to make the deaths from Covid-19 in the country invisible, state health secretaries said on Saturday, refuting statements made by businessman Carlos Wizard, Secretary of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Health, that the data from the state health departments are "fanciful."
Wizard said, according to a report in the newspaper O Globo, that the ministry will recount the deaths from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, because some local officials allegedly inflated the numbers to obtain a larger share of the pandemic relief budget. He did not present any evidence to support his claim.
In a statement, the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) said that Wizard's statement reveals "profound ignorance on the subject."
“The authoritarian, insensitive, inhumane, and unethical attempt to render the deaths from Covid-19 invisible will not succeed,” the statement says, adding that Wizard “insults the memory of all those defenseless victims of this terrible pandemic and their families.”
Since last Wednesday, the Ministry of Health, temporarily headed by General Eduardo Pazuello, has been releasing data on the Covid-19 pandemic in the country at 22 pm — the data was released between 16 pm and 17 pm during Luiz Henrique Mandetta's administration and at 19 pm under Nelson Teich's leadership.
The data released on Friday only showed the number of new cases and new deaths caused by the disease, without reporting the totals, as had been done until then. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health's website, where various information related to the pandemic was published (covid.saude.gov.br), was taken offline on Friday night and on Saturday only displays the message "Portal under maintenance".
Asked on Friday about the delay in releasing the data, Bolsonaro —who has previously downplayed Covid-19, calling it a "little flu"— stated: "That's the end of the Jornal Nacional story," referring to the TV Globo news program broadcast shortly after the time when the disease data was usually reported by the ministry.
Despite the tactic of publishing the numbers outside of the news broadcast hours, on Friday Jornal Nacional interrupted the transmission of the network's soap opera to broadcast the disease statistics.
As of Friday, Brazil had 645.771 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 35.026 deaths, according to calculations based on figures previously reported by the ministry.