Brazil restores detailed COVID-19 data after Supreme Court ruling

Brazil on June 9 restored detailed COVID-19 data to its official national website following controversy over the removal of cumulative totals and a ruling by a Supreme Court justice that the full set of information be reinstated.

The move came after days of mounting pressure from across the political spectrum and allegations the government was trying to mask the severity of the outbreak, now the world's second-largest.

The official website https://covid.saude.gov.br/ https://covid.saude.gov.br/, reverted to showing cumulative totals of deaths and infections - as well as breakdowns by state - as it had done until last week.

On June 9 evening the latest daily numbers were uploaded to the site. They showed 32,091 new infections of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours for a cumulative total of 739,503 cases, and 1,272 new deaths, bringing the toll to 38,406 dead, the third highest after the United States and Britain.

Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently sought to play down the severity of the coronavirus, dismissing it as a "little flu" and urging governors to reverse lockdown measures battering the country's economy.

On June 9, Bolsonaro said the World Health Organization had lost credibility in its handling of the pandemic and that Brazil could pull out of the international body.

Sao Paulo's health department reported a record number of COVID-19 deaths for one day, just as the country's most populous state was starting to reopen its economy and relax some social distancing rules.

Despite the deaths, the mayor of Sao Paulo, the state capital, said shops could resume business for four hours a day as of Wednesday and malls could open again on Thursday pending agreement on conditions to protect shoppers.<...