COVID-19 global death toll reaches at least 400,000
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The confirmed global death toll from the coronavirus reached at least 400,000 yesterday, a day after the government of Brazil broke with standard public health protocols by ceasing to publish updates of the number of deaths and infections in the hard-hit South American country.
Worldwide, at least 6.9 million people have been infected by the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University. Health experts, however, believe that the John Hopkins tally falls short of showing the true tragedy of the pandemic.
Many governments have struggled to produce statistics that can reasonably be considered as true indicators of the pandemic given the scarcity of diagnostic tests especially in the first phase of the crisis. Authorities in Italy and Spain, with over 60,000 combined deaths, have acknowledged that their death count is larger than the story the numbers tell.
But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro went as far as to tweet on Saturday that his country鈥檚 disease totals are 鈥渘ot representative鈥 of Brazil鈥檚 current situation, insinuating that the numbers were actually overestimating the spread of the virus.
Critics of Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly clashed with health experts over the seriousness of the disease and has threatened to take Brazil out of the World Health Organization, said the decision was a maneuver by the leader to hide the depths of crisis.
Brazil鈥檚 last official numbers recorded over 34,000 virus-related deaths, the third-highest toll in the world behind the US and Britain. It reported nearly 615,000 infections, putting it second behind the US.
After Bolsonaro stoked his clash with health experts, Pope Francis cautioned people in countries emerging from lockdown to keep following authorities鈥 rules on social distancing, hygiene and limits on movement.
鈥淏e careful, don鈥檛 cry victory, don鈥檛 cry victory too soon,鈥 Francis said. 鈥淔ollow the rules. They are rules that help us to avoid the virus getting ahead鈥 again. He has also expressed dismay that the virus is still claiming many lives, especially in Latin America.
Many counties insist that they can ease lockdown restrictions before having stalled their outbreaks. Yesterday, the UK said that places of worship can reopen from June 15 鈥 but only for private prayer.
Worries have surfaced over the past couple of weeks that the UK government is easing the restrictions too soon, with new infections potentially still running at 8,000 a day.
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