RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the media consortium, which collects data from the regional health secretariats of the 27 Brazilian states, there were 899 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 502,817, according to the bulletin that closed at 8 PM.
With 43,413 more diagnoses in the last 24 hours, the total number of registered cases is said to be 17,969,806 for confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Bolsonaro claims official Covid numbers are bogus
The president of Brazil, Bolsonaro insisted in early June 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.
The Brazilian president reiterated that the numbers are fraudulently “inflated” by governors and mayors. This way, he claims, they obtain “more financial resources” from the federal government to combat the pandemic.
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Bolsonaro based his overcount theory upon a study, supposedly prepared by Brazil’s Federal Audit Court (TCU). Immediately thereafter, however, the TCU denied it had prepared any such report. In fact, the “study” was spurious, without any factual basis, done by a TCU employee who supports Bolsonaro; the employee was suspended. The president then recanted, saying he had been given incorrect information.