RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, insisted on Wednesday, June 9, that the number of deaths from covid-19 in Brazil is “inflated” and argued that, in fact, the country might be “one of the countries with the lowest rate of deaths per inhabitant” in the world.
Without presenting proof and citing an document supposedly from the Federal Audit Court (TCU), Bolsonaro denied the 475,000 deaths from coronavirus in the official statistics and reiterated that the real figure “must be” 50% lower. The TCU has explained that the false document cited by Bolsonaro was prepared by one of its auditors, who has been suspended.
The Ministry of Health data places Brazil as one of the countries most affected in the world by the pandemic, together with the United States and India, both in number of cases and deaths.
However, Bolsonaro reiterated that the numbers are fraudulently “inflated” by governors and mayors. This way, they obtain “more financial resources” from the federal government to combat the pandemic.
Bolsonaro insisted on his theory during a ceremony held in an evangelical church in Anápolis, Goiás, 150 kilometers from Brasilia, bringing together about twenty neo-pentecostal pastors who are part of his political base.
Read also: Bolsonaro wants to investigate if Brazilian state governors “exaggerate” Covid-19 deaths
In another false statement, the president claimed that the lower number of deaths was thanks to the so-called “early treatment” that his government has promoted and includes a series of drugs without scientifically proven efficacy against the coronavirus.
“The miracle came. The early treatment and chloroquine,” he assured, amid ovations, as he also promoted a “tea of three Amazonian herbs” that, according to him, have been used by two Indian tribes in which “there has not been a single death from Covid”.
Source: efe