Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive
for Covid-19 after months of downplaying the virus’ severity.
Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and
speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia.
“I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here,
but I can’t due to medical recommendationS,” Bolsonaro
said.
The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with
supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has
said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the
virus, and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu”
were he to contract it.
He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70%
of the population falling ill with Covid-19, and that local
authorities’ measures to shut down economic activity would
ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its
course.
Cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had
been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as their
statistical curves of deaths began to decline along with the
occupation rate of its intensive-care units. Brazil, the world’s
sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is
one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.
On Monday, Bolsonaro told supporters in Brasilia that he
underwent an X-ray of his lungs that showed they were clean, and
that he would be tested for Covid-19. On Tuesday, he told CNN
Brasil that his fever had subsided.
Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated the U.S.
Independence Day with the nation’s ambassador to Brazil, then
shared pictures on social media showing him with his arm around the
ambassador alongside several ministers and aides. None wore masks,
despite being in close quarters.
The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter on Monday that Ambassador Todd
Chapman is not showing any Covid-19 symptoms but would be
tested.
Bolsonaro tested negative three times in March after meeting
with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida. Multiple members
of his delegation to the U.S. were later reported to be infected
with the virus.
More than 65,000 Brazilians have so far died from Covid-19 and
more than 1,500,000 have been infected. Both numbers are the
world’s second-highest totals, and are considered to be
undercounts to the lack of widespread testing.
