July 7, 2020
Finally, it was confirmed at noon today that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, 65, tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday, after suffering from fever, cough, and muscle aches. Minutes before his diagnosis was confirmed, the president, who is recognized around the world for his skepticism about the pandemic, gave a press interview, again ignoring the recommended social distancing measures in the midst of the health crisis.
“I was very much criticized for the measures taken and my positions regarding the COVID-19,” the president complained to some journalists, without respecting the distance and barely using a mask to prevent the spread of the virus. Minutes earlier he had been diagnosed as positive for COVID-19, in the fourth test he had undergone since the beginning of the pandemic. Bolsonaro’s age places him among the patients at risk for coronavirus.
“Everyone knew that it would reach a considerable part of the population sooner or later. It was positive for me,” said Bolsonaro. Brazil is one of the countries with the highest number of infected people with the second-highest number in the world, behind only the US. As of this morning, it has 1,643,539 infected people and 66,093 deaths,
According to Bolsonaro a follow-up test will be taken to ensure the test results is correct. Yesterday it was known that Bolsonaro was taking the questionable drug chloroquine in despite having a hig fever, which had reached over 100 degrees.
The ultra-right-wing head of state, who from the beginning said that the coronavirus was a “little crack” inflated by the media, showed up yesterday in more than one public events without a mask and without respecting the measures of social distancing. This Saturday, he even published photos on social networks in which he can be seen with his face uncovered, together with several ministers and the ambassador of Washington in Brasilia, during a luncheon to celebrate U.S. Independence Day.
In terms of public policy against Covid-19, the president limited himself to asking as many times as he could for economic recovery, questioning the pandemic and pressuring the governors to lift the quarantines in their states. On this last point, it was the Supreme Court that prevented him from carrying out unilateral decisions that would have left all measures against the spread of the virus ineffective.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North America bureau