Bolsonaro defends later, partial release of Brazil COVID-19 data

FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro greets his supporters at the ramp of the Planalto Palace, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Brasilia, Brazil June 5, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday defended his government's move to partially withhold official data on the scale of the world's second-largest coronavirus outbreak.

Late on Friday, Brazil's Health Ministry took down a website showing the evolution of the epidemic over time and by state and municipality. The ministry also stopped reporting a total tally of confirmed cases, which have shot past 645,000 – more than anywhere outside the United States – and its overall death toll, which just passed Italy with more than 35,000.