GENEVA/BRASILIA, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) –– The World Health Organization sent its best wishes to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, saying it “brings home the reality of this virus.
“No-one is special in that regard: we are all potentially exposed,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press conference, adding: “We wish Mr Bolsonaro and his family the best.”
Bolsonaro said he is confident that he will swiftly recover from the new coronavirus thanks to treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that has not been proven effective against COVID-19.
Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the new coronavirus on Tuesday after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country. The president told reporters he underwent a lung X-ray on Monday after experiencing fever, muscle aches and malaise. As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, he said, and he attributed the improvement to hydroxychloroquine.
He stepped back from the journalists and removed his mask at one point to show that he looked well.
The 65-year-old right-wing populist who has been known to mingle in crowds without covering his face confirmed the results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters huddled close in front of him in the 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. Later Tuesday, he posted a Facebook video of him taking his third dose of hydroxychloroquine, which has also been promoted by President Donald Trump.
But a string of studies in the UK and U.S., as well as by the World Health Organization, have found it ineffective and sometimes deadly because of its effects on the heart. Several studies were cancelled early because of that.
Brazil, the world’s sixth-biggest nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the outbreak’s most lethal hot spots. More than 65,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19, and over 1.5 million have been infected.
Both numbers are the world’s second-highest totals, behind those of the U.S., though the true figures are believed to be higher because of a lack of widespread testing. On Tuesday alone, 1,254 deaths were confirmed.
Other world leaders who have had bouts with COVID-19 include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince Albert II of Monaco and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.
