RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil’s government resumed publishing the country’s total death toll from the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, after facing accusations of trying to hide the magnitude of its raging health crisis. The health ministry did so Tuesday, indicating the death toll had risen by 1,272, to a total of 38,406 people killed by the virus — the third-highest toll in the world, after the United States and Britain. The ministry said the total number of confirmed infections had risen to 739,503, the second-highest caseload in the world, after the US. The health ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Agence France-Presse on why it returned to the old format and its plans for the future. He threatened Friday to quit the World Health Organization (WHO) over “ideological bias” — criticism echoed Tuesday by his foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo.

Source: Manila Times June 10, 2020 01:52 UTC