The Brazilian health ministry said the country’s record spike in newly reported coronavirus cases was due in part to “instability” in how a few populous states reported their data.
On Friday, Brazil reported 54,711 fresh cases — higher than the largest single-day increase in the United States, which reported 48,529 new cases on April 25, according to a CNN tally based on Johns Hopkins University data.
The ministry said the large number of cases reported Friday was partly due to “instability in the routine of exporting data related, principally, to the states of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo on Thursday June 18.”
The state of São Paulo — Brazil’s most populous state and the epicenter of the country’s Covid-19 outbreak — reported 1,111 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and 19,030 on Friday.
The health ministry note on Friday said “it is worth noting that the conclusion of the epidemiological week on Saturday 6/20 will allow for a more precise evaluation of the variation in new cases this week in relation to last week.”
The spike came as Brazil became only the second country worldwide to surpass 1 million reported cases, after the US.