Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro tests positive
for coronavirus
Bolsonaro, 65, announces: ‘It came back positive’
Far-right president has repeatedly trivialized
pandemic
Tom Phillips in
Rio de Janeiro
Published
onTue 7 Jul 2020 16.16 BST
The
Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has announced live on television he has
tested positive for coronavirus.
“It came
back positive,” a mask-wearing Bolsonaro told a hand-picked group of reporters
on Tuesday lunchtime.
Bolsonaro,
65, has repeatedly trivialized the pandemic and flouted social distancing, even
as Brazil became the second-worst hit country after the United States, with
more than 65,000 deaths and 1.6 million confirmed cases.
In March,
as Covid-19 claimed its first victims in Brazil, the far-right populist used an
address to the nation to brag that, if infected, he would quickly shake off the
illness thanks to his “athlete’s background”.
Since then,
Bolsonaro has continued to attend social events and political rallies, often
wearing masks incorrectly, or not wearing them at all.
Bolsonaro’s
diagnosis comes just three days after he had lunch at the home of the US
ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman, in the capital, Brasília.
Also
present at that Independence Day celebration were several top cabinet members,
including foreign minister Ernesto Araújo, defence minister Fernando Azevedo,
and the president’s son, Eduardo, a politician who is Steve Bannon’s
representative in South America. The men were photographed without face masks.
Reports of
Bolsonaro’s possible infection first emerged on Monday evening, with local news
outlets reporting that he had been tested after developing coronavirus
symptoms, including a 38C temperature and a persistent cough.
An MRI of
Bolsonaro’s lungs was also taken, with the president telling supporters it had
shown them to be “clear”.
The
newspaper O Globo said it understood Brazil’s president had started complaining
of tiredness on Saturday night, after his lunch with the US ambassador, and
continued feeling unwell on Sunday.
Bolsonaro
has repeatedly downplayed the risks of Covid-19 and urged Brazil to get back to
work to avoid a devastating economic crash but he is now the second member of
his family suffering its effects.
The
80-year-old grandmother of Brazil’s first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, was
reportedly intubated on Sunday, after being admitted to hospital with
coronavirus last Wednesday.
According
to the G1 news website, Maria Aparecida Firmo Ferreira, who is reportedly
estranged from the presidential clan, was found collapsed in the street by
passersby and taken to a hospital in Ceilândia, a satellite city outside
Brasília.
Bolsonaro’s
response to the coronavirus has sparked a domestic and international outcry,
with many directly blaming him for the high death toll. Brazil currently lacks
a permanent health minister after two were forced from their jobs in less than
a month after clashing with Bolsonaro over the pandemic.
On Monday
night Bolsonaro’s son, Carlos, attacked critics of his father who he claimed
were willing the president’s death.
“The
immense number of people rooting for the death of the head of the executive
right now should trigger an immediate show of solidarity from other [political]
leaders,” Carlos Bolsonaro tweeted.
Another
prominent politician, the mayor of the biggest city in the Amazon, Manaus, was
flown to hospital in São Paulo on Monday after also falling ill with
coronavirus last week.
“The doctors
are optimistic and so are we,” Arthur Virgílio, who had reportedly been
receiving non-invasive respiratory support, said in a WhatsApp message to the
Guardian.
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