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Those infected by the coronavirus in Brazil could already exceed 1.2 million, a number 16 times higher than the official figure and higher than that of the United States, the country currently hardest hit by the pandemic, according to a study released this Thursday, which takes into account underreported cases in the country.
The research, carried out by the Covid-19 Brazil portal, which brings together scientists and students from various Brazilian universities, points out that by April 28 the number of confirmed cases of the pandemic would fluctuate between 957,087 and 1.49 million, being 1.20 million the most adjusted number.
On the same day, the country’s health authorities reported a total of 73,553 cases, that is, 16 times less to that estimated by this research.
According to the latest balance released this Wednesday by the Ministry of Health, Brazil officially records 5,466 deaths, 449 in the last day, and 78,162 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
“Official gazettes are generally considering cases who were hospitalized” and “cases that are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, are not subject to testing, and are not reported”, explained to Efe Domingo Alves, member of the group and leader of the Health Intelligence Laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sao Paulo (USP).
According to Alves, the number of cases in official reports is around 15% of the total number of cases, which would represent only the number of hospitalizations.
The estimate from the Covid-19 Brazil portal places the number of Brazilian coronavirus cases above the official total in the United States, which leads the world ranking with more than one million cases.
Brazil, which has more than 210 million inhabitants, represents about two thirds of the US population.
To project the number of people infected by the new virus, the group of scientists used, as a basis for their study, the number of deaths reported in the country, which, although also underreported, is considered a more consolidated indicator.
The researchers applied the fatality rate in South Korea, “one of the few countries that managed to carry out mass tests”, and adjusted the numbers to the Brazilian age pyramid.
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