Brazil's COVID-19 cases could be 12 times more than official count: Study

Coronavirus cases in Brazil may have been undercounted as a recent study released on April 13 said that the country likely has 12 times more infections than are being officially reported by the government. The study estimates that only 8% of total cases are being officially reported in the largest South American country, hence, the death rate is higher than normal. Brazilian health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta has also admitted that the testing needs to improve and added that it is difficult to distribute tests in the country because of its massive size. 

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According to data from the Brazilian health ministry, around 63,000 people had been tested until April 9 out of the 1,27,000 suspected coronavirus cases. The right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro had been downplaying the risk of the virus outbreak in his country by asking people to return to normalcy, while his ministers, mayors and other government officials have been towing a different line altogether, urging people to stay at home and maintain social distancing. 

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According to data by worldometer, Brazil has recorded 23,723 confirmed coronavirus cases so far, of which 293 infections came in the last 24 hours. More than 1,300 people have lost their lives in the country, while 296 patients remain under critical conditions. According to data, there are still over 19,000 active cases in Brazil, while 1,694 have been treated successfully.  

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Coronavirus outbreak

The deadly coronavirus infection has claimed more than 1,20,000 lives across the world and has infected over 19,36,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China was the most affected country until last month before Italy, Spain, Iran, the US, France, the UK, Belgium surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world due to COVID-19. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.

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(Image Credit: AP)