BRASILIA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian health officials learned from the mistakes made at the onset of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello said on Wednesday.

At a hearing held by a joint congressional commission that monitors the actions of the government in the fight against COVID-19, Pazuello said his ministry was learning something every day about how to treat the victims of the pandemic.

"We learned from the mistakes at the beginning of the pandemic, when the UBS (Basic Health Units) were closed, ceasing to attend to the population since the onset of symptoms. Instead of making the right decision, there was fear of transmission," he said.

"What you need to do is examine people with symptoms, on the one hand, and people with other diseases, on the other," Pazuello said.

According to the minister, early follow-up and clinical diagnosis significantly changed the outcome of treatment.

Brazil has registered upwards of 6.38 million confirmed cases of infection and 173,817 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak at the end of February.