Coronavirus

Bolsonaro opposition takes Covid-19 data to Supreme Court

Bolsonaro opposition takes Covid-19 data to Supreme Court
Photo: Somemeans/Shutterstock

Representatives and senators opposed to President Jair Bolsonaro have asked the Supreme Court to step in and force the government to disclose all coronavirus data without filters. Over the past week, the administration has grown increasingly opaque in its dealings with the data — hiding total tallies and publishing conflicting figures.

On June 7, the government published two contrastingly different death counts over the previous 24 hours: first reporting 1,382 deaths, and then just 525 an hour later. NGO Transparency Brazil says that the recent data tampering and omission by President Jair Bolsonaro’s government could be an impeachable offense, and could also be seen as a crime — for going against laws guaranteeing access to public information and health emergency measures.

The lawsuit at the Supreme Court was signed by two senators and four members of the lower house. They want justices to force the government to publish daily coronavirus data by no later than 7:30 pm. Lately, the Health Ministry has waited until nightly national TV newscasts had ended before publishing its updates. They also want the information to be made available on social media.

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