Brazilian government accused of hiding coronavirus deaths 'by decree,' stops publishing running total


Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been one of the world's most high-profile coronavirus skeptics since the pandemic began, often downplaying the gravity of the global health crisis. Now, his government appears to have taken that skepticism to a new level.
As of Saturday — when global coronavirus deaths passed 400,000 — Brazil has stopped publishing a running total of COVID-19 deaths and infections in what many see as an attempt to hide the virus' true toll in the country, The Associated Press reports. "We are becoming an international joke in terms of public health," said Domingo Alves, an associate professor of social medicine at the University of Sao Paulo. "Deaths cannot be hidden by decree."
The federal Health Ministry took down a website Friday that showed daily, weekly, and monthly coronavirus figures in Brazilian states. The site returned Saturday, minus the total numbers; it now shows only the data for the previous 24 hours, per AP. The last official count showed 615,000 infections and 34,000 deaths, the second and third highest marks in the world, respectively, and some experts believe the world's seventh most populous country is now the epicenter of the pandemic.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While the expert consensus is that Brazil's deaths and infections have been undercounted, Bolsonaro's government has suggested states' tallies have been made to look worse. "The number we have today is fanciful or manipulated," said Carlos Wizard, a businessman expected to assume a high-level post in the Health Ministry.
A council of state health secretaries said it won't let Bolsonaro's "authoritarian, insensitive, inhumane, and unethical attempt" to make COVID-19 deaths "invisible" go forward without a fight. Read more at The Associated Press.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants