Data Disclosure Changes After Bolsonaro Demands Covid Daily Death Reports Below 1,000

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In order to comply with the limit imposed by the Chief Executive, the solution was to separate deaths that had occurred over the past 24 hours from those that had occurred in preceding days, but only confirmed in that period. Until last week, the Ministry of Health would add up all the deaths registered on a given day, regardless of when they occurred.

The Planalto Palace strategy is an attempt to demonstrate that there is no uncontrolled escalation of the disease, while pointing out that there is excessive media coverage. Bolsonaro’s plan is to show that the number of actual deaths has never been more than a thousand a day, and that the figures rise only when consolidating the registry data of patients who died on earlier dates.

Brazil counts 37,312 deaths and 685,427 confirmed cases of Covid-19. It ranks second in the number of infections, and third in deaths, in the entire world.

The data handling was addressed in a video by entrepreneur Luciano Hang, owner of Havan department store chain, and a supporter of Bolsonaro, in which he says “it does not conform to reality” to report that more than a thousand deaths by Covid-19 were confirmed in a single day. Hang’s video was sent by the Executive Secretary of Health, Colonel Elcio Franco Filho, to his team. The video disclosure was reported by Valor Econômico newspaper and confirmed by Estadão newspaper.

The addition of figures follows the international standard. The issue in splitting the figures is that the ministry would leave out patients who had their deaths confirmed for Covid-19 outside the counted period. For instance, a patient who died on Monday but death by coronavirus was only confirmed one day later would not be included in Tuesday’s statistics or in those of any other day, since the government no longer discloses the history.

Army General Pazuello, who is not a doctor, temporarily took charge of the Health Ministry on May 15th, and has been adopting measures that comply with Bolsonaro’s wishes. He has already extended the guidelines for the use of chloroquine, dismissed officials who signed a note on abortion misrepresented by the President’s supporters, and put an end to the daily interviews of scientist experts on tackling the disease. Ex-ministers Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich left the government after refusing to follow the Planalto Palace’s guidelines.

Brazil exceeded the number of 1,000 daily deaths for the first time on May 19th. On June 3rd, the country broke a record with 1,349 deaths in 24 hours. This was the date on which the government first delayed the release of the pandemic balance, which began to be released at around 10 PM. On the following day, there was a new record: 1,473 deaths and another delay.

Last Friday, June 5th, the third straight day of delays, the President refused to answer a question about who had made the decision to defer the disclosure of data. At the time, he said: “It’s over for the Jornal Nacional,” referring to the TV Globo evening newscast, the one with the largest audience in the country.

On that same Friday, the Ministry of Health website reporting on the pandemic went offline. The page was back online 19 hours later, but it only showed data on the “new” cases, i.e., those recorded on that same day. The consolidated numbers on the disease and its history have vanished. On Sunday, June 7th, the government announced that it would again report on the disease. But it showed conflicting figures, released in the space of a few hours. The mistake was “corrected” on Monday to show shockingly low numbers of deaths.

On Monday, June 8th, in reaction to the government’s decision to restrict access to data on the Covid-19 pandemic, mainstream media outlets O Estado de S. Paulo, Folha de S.Paulo, O Globo, Extra, G1, and UOL decided to form a partnership and work together to seek the required information from the 26 states and the Federal District. The daily balance will be completed by 8 PM each day.

After the negative repercussion of the restrictions on access to information about the pandemic, the government’s assessment is that the team of the interim Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, has failed to comply with the President’s decision. The order now is to adjust the disclosure of data to demonstrate that it was a mistake rather than a lack of transparency.

Ministry of Health pledges ‘interactive platform’

The Ministry of Health has pledged to release the data on an “interactive platform” to be introduced this week, focusing on cases by date of occurrence rather than by confirmation of the death record. The idea is to show how many deaths occurred on the day of disclosure, even if this data is later increased by confirmation of the cases that were still under investigation on that date.

The international standard is different. Countries have pointed out how many deaths were confirmed on the date, even if those deaths occurred weeks ago. According to Ministry officials, after the negative repercussions, the plan is not to conceal deaths that occurred in previous days, but rather to highlight only those that occurred and were confirmed during the preceding 24 hours.

Since the start of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has downplayed the impact of the health crisis. The President advocates an end to social isolation and wants economic activities to return. Despite the still rising curve of the disease, he has urged entrepreneurs to put pressure on governors to end quarantine.

Source: O Estado de S. Paulo