Brazil restores detailed COVID-19 data after Supreme Court ruling
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil on Tuesday restored detailed COVID-19 data to its official national website following controversy over the removal of cumulative totals and a ruling by a Supreme Court justice that the full set of information be reinstated.

The move came after days of mounting pressure from across the political spectrum and allegations the government was trying to mask the severity of the outbreak, now the world’s second-largest.

President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently sought to play down the severity of the new coronavirus, dismissing it as a “little flu” and urging governors to reverse lockdown measures that are battering the country’s economy.

On Tuesday, Bolsonaro said the World Health Organization has lost credibility in its handling of the pandemic and that Brazil could pull out of the international body.

The controversy over how Brazil presents its coronavirus numbers came as Sao Paulo’s health department reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths for one day, just as the country’s most populous state was starting to reopen its economy and relax some social distancing rules.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second-largest city, also started to ease quarantine rules, including by allowing soccer games without spectators, but a judge on Monday overruled decisions by local government, allowing only essential services to operate due to the state’s surging death toll of over 7,000 fatalities.

Over the weekend, the health ministry abruptly removed cumulative totals of coronavirus cases and deaths, causing outrage across the political spectrum. Last week, it delayed the release of the numbers until late in the evening and past Brazil’s main news program.

Health experts had feared that by not publishing accumulated totals and releasing only deaths that occurred in the past 24 hours, cases in which someone tested positive for the coronavirus days after their death date could disappear from public view.

In Brazil, where testing has been haphazard, such cases are common.

Supreme Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in a statement on the court’s website that the health ministry must “fully re-establish the daily dissemination of epidemiological data on the COVID-19 pandemic, including on the agency’s website, under the terms presented until last Thursday.”

Acting Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, speaking at a cabinet meeting broadcast on TV, said there had never been any intention to revise the numbers, nor any suggestion that figures had been over-reported.

For Justice Moraes, the government’s actions in recent days made it “impossible” to monitor the spread of the virus and to implement adequate and necessary control and prevention policies.

On Tuesday afternoon the official website covid.saude.gov.br/ covid.saude.gov.br/, reverted to showing detailed information, with cumulative totals of deaths and infections - as well as breakdowns by state - as it had last week.

Brazil’s confirmed cases, at more than 700,000, are the second-highest in the world behind only the United States, and the death toll is now over 37,000, the world’s third-highest.


Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, Jamie McGeever, Eduardo Simoes and Anthony Boadle; writing by Anthony Boadle and Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Marguerita Choy and Dan Grebler

Brazil must publish COVID-19 data in full, says Supreme Court justice

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s top court waded into the controversy surrounding official reporting of coronavirus death and infection rates, as a Supreme Court justice ruled the Health Ministry must revert to releasing the full set of data it had previously made available.
FILE PHOTO: Judge Alexandre de Moraes speaks during a meeting with Brazil's Lower House's President Rodrigo Maia, in Brasilia, Brazil October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

Over the weekend, the Health Ministry abruptly removed troves of detailed coronavirus data and said it would no longer publish cumulative totals, causing outrage across the political spectrum. Last week, it pushed back the release of the numbers late into the evening and past Brazil’s main news program.

In a statement on the Supreme Court website early on Tuesday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes said the ministry must “fully re-establish the daily dissemination of epidemiological data on the COVID-19 pandemic, including on the agency’s website, under the terms presented until last Thursday.”

Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, speaking at a cabinet meeting broadcast on local TV, said there had never been any intention to revise the number of casualties, nor any suggestion from within the government that the figures have been over-reported.

He said registering fatalities from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, by the date of death rather than the day of registration better reflected the epidemic’s “true curve.”

On Monday, the ministry rowed back on its earlier position, saying it would release data earlier and include cumulative totals.

Health experts had feared that by no longer publishing accumulated totals and only releasing deaths that occurred in the past 24 hours, cases in which someone tested positive for the new coronavirus days after their date of death could disappear from public view. In Brazil, where testing has been haphazard, such cases are common.

For Justice Moraes, the government’s actions in recent days made it “impossible” to monitor the spread of the virus and to implement adequate and necessary control and prevention policies.

Brazil’s confirmed cases, at more than 700,000, are the second highest in the world behind only the United States, and the death toll is now over 37,000.

Also on Tuesday, President Jair Bolsonaro repeated his threat to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization, which he claimed had acted irresponsibly as the pandemic unfolded and lost credibility.


Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Jamie McGeever; Editing by