Brazil’s inability to produce reliable Covid-19 data an obstacle for policymaking

Earlier this month, Brazil’s Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said that the coronavirus outbreak infection curve in Brazil would peak by late-April, early-May, as have some infectious disease experts. However, all projections might have one problem at their origin: they are based on data that is simply not that reliable. As Covid-19 cases grow, Brazil has proven to be unable to produce consistent — and detailed — data that would help experts and policymakers understand the virus’ path in the country and design action plans capable of lowering the infection curve as much as possible.

As we have reported on March 29, no one knows exactly how many people have been infected in Brazil, as testing rates have been extremely low. The São Paulo-based Adolfo Lutz Institute alone has a backlog of 14,000 tests to process — 500 of them of severe patients.

Meanwhile, we showed in our live Covid-19 blog that notary offices have registered more Covid-19-related deaths than hospitals have, and that funeral parlors are preparing for a soaring demand in months to come. Meanwhile, many death certificates come with “suspicion of Covid-19”...