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Source: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/environ...under-scrutiny
As deaths mount in Brazil's Amazon, official COVID-19 toll under scrutiny
Reuters
Jake Spring and Eduardo Sim?es and Bruno Kelly
May 8, 2020
7:02 AM EDT
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO/MANAUS — The death toll from COVID-19 in the worst hit part of Brazil’s remote Amazon region may be three times the official count, according to data from public notaries reviewed by Reuters, as the spread of the disease overwhelms the public health system...
...The coronavirus killed 422 people in Amazonas in April, according to the ministry. Yet death registry data from public notaries indicates the ministry’s statistics may far underestimate the actual toll. Officials have previously acknowledged in media briefings that the toll is likely higher as cases go undetected because of a lack of testing, without saying by how much.
Data from the national association of public notaries as of Thursday showed 385 people died of COVID-19 in Amazonas in April. However, the notaries also registered 999 other deaths – attributed to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome and other respiratory failures, which some officials in the state believe should be counted as COVID-19 deaths for a total of 1,384. The 999 deaths are four times the 249 fatalities attributed to those other diseases in April 2019...
As deaths mount in Brazil's Amazon, official COVID-19 toll under scrutiny
Reuters
Jake Spring and Eduardo Sim?es and Bruno Kelly
May 8, 2020
7:02 AM EDT
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO/MANAUS — The death toll from COVID-19 in the worst hit part of Brazil’s remote Amazon region may be three times the official count, according to data from public notaries reviewed by Reuters, as the spread of the disease overwhelms the public health system...
...The coronavirus killed 422 people in Amazonas in April, according to the ministry. Yet death registry data from public notaries indicates the ministry’s statistics may far underestimate the actual toll. Officials have previously acknowledged in media briefings that the toll is likely higher as cases go undetected because of a lack of testing, without saying by how much.
Data from the national association of public notaries as of Thursday showed 385 people died of COVID-19 in Amazonas in April. However, the notaries also registered 999 other deaths – attributed to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome and other respiratory failures, which some officials in the state believe should be counted as COVID-19 deaths for a total of 1,384. The 999 deaths are four times the 249 fatalities attributed to those other diseases in April 2019...