Lisbon court did not rule that there have only been 152 COVID deaths in Portugal
Lisbon court did not rule that there have only been 152 COVID deaths in Portugal
(Reuters) - A court in Lisbon did not rule that there had only been 152 COVID-19 deaths in Portugal, as opposed to the official figure which is now above 19,000.
One Twitter user wrote (here) on Jan. 2: “Court rules only 152 died of COVID-19 in Portugal, not 17,000.”
This appears to be based on a claim that first surfaced in June and July of 2021.
At the time, Portugal’s official death toll was around 17,000, whereas on Jan. 6, 2022, the total was just above 19,000, according to official figures from Portugal (here), as well as data collected separately by Reuters (here).
However, this claim has previously been debunked by fact checkers in the UK (here) and in Portugal (here).
They found that the claim was based on the Administrative Court of the Lisbon Circuit responding on May 19 to a request by a group of citizens for COVID-19 information.
The Administrative Court falls under the remit of the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service (or Ministério Público MP – Public Ministry), which is a body of the Judiciary of Portugal. The Ministry of Justice (Ministerio da Justica) is the government department responsible for the administration of the country’s judiciary system). The Ministry of Justice (Ministerio da Justica) is the government department responsible for the administration of the country’s judiciary system.
In the information request, the group asked how many COVID-19 deaths had been determined by autopsy. Responding, the Administrative Court said Ministry of Justice doctors had found 152 deaths caused by COVID-19, of which four involved autopsies.
However, most deaths in Portugal are not registered by Ministry of Justice doctors and are instead accounted for by doctors employed by the Ministry of Health (MoH), according to information shared with local fact checking organisation Poligrafo by the MoH.
Therefore, doctors for the MoH would find thousands more deaths caused by COVID-19 than doctors at the Ministry of Justice.
According to The Portugal News, the Public Ministry “is only called when there is something indicating a death caused by a criminal act” and this intervention is “very rare”.
Reuters has approached both the Portuguese ministries of justice and health for comment.
VERDICT
False. There have been more than 19,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 in Portugal. Only a small fraction of those are registered by doctors who are employed by the Ministry of Justice.
