Brazil now country with third-most Covid-19 deaths

With a three-hour delay, the Health Ministry has published today’s coronavirus update. Brazil registered 30,925 new cases and 1,473 new deaths over the past 24 hours — bringing the total tally to 614,941 and 34,021, respectively.

Delays

This was the second straight day that the ministry has delayed the release of Covid-19 data. As a matter of fact, the department has changed its posture towards updates on multiple occasions. Until mid-April, under former Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, numbers were published around 5 pm — often accompanied by a press conference. Mr. Mandetta was fired on April 16, and his replacement, Nelson Teich, pushed the release back to around 7 pm. 

Mr. Teich, however, resigned after less than a month in office — and under current Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, data release has become erratic. As compiled by news website Nexo, coronavirus daily information has been published between 7:40 and 8:50 pm. On Wednesday, it was published around 10 pm — after most night newscasts had finished. Coincidentally, yesterday saw a record-breaking 1,349 daily deaths.

• #bigData