SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil removed from public view months of data on its COVID-19 epidemic on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro defended delays and changes to official record-keeping of the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro greets his supporters at the ramp of the Planalto Palace, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Brasilia, Brazil June 5, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
Brazil’s Health Ministry removed the data from a website that had documented the epidemic over time and by state and municipality. The ministry also stopped giving a total count of confirmed cases, which have shot past 672,000 – more than anywhere outside the United States – or a total death toll, which passed Italy this week, nearing 36,000 by Saturday.
“The cumulative data … does not refl