President Jair Bolsonaro
BRASILIA, July 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has again tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office announced, saying he would extend his two-week quarantine and suspend upcoming travel plans.
Bolsonaro, who has faced criticism for downplaying the pandemic and flouting social distancing measures, has been in self-isolation in the presidential palace in Brasilia since first testing positive for the virus on July 7.
“President Jair Bolsonaro’s health continues to improve, under the treatment of the presidential medical team,” his office said in a statement.
“A (new coronavirus) test carried out yesterday on the president came back positive.”
Bolsonaro, 65, has famously compared the virus to a “little flu” and attacked stay-at-home measures and other guidelines from public-health officials.
Until he was infected, he regularly hit the streets of Brasilia without a face mask, exchanging hugs and handshakes with supporters and urging Latin America’s biggest country to get back to work despite its rapidly spreading outbreak.
Since testing positive after developing a fever and fatigue, he has been working by video conference from the presidential residence, the Alvorada Palace – a routine he admitted last week he “can’t stand”.
Following the latest positive test result, his third since getting infected, Bolsonaro “indefinitely postponed” upcoming trips to the north-eastern states of Piaui and Bahia, his office .
On Sunday, Bolsonaro greeted supporters at his residence, separated by a reflecting pool about two metres wide.
He removed his face mask to talk to them and proudly held up a box of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he is taking against the infection.
Both Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, whom he admires, have touted the medication as a treatment for COVID-19, despite scientific evidence it is ineffective against coronavirus.
Bolsonaro’s hydroxychloroquine box-brandishing incident was “deplorable,” said respiratory specialist Margareth Dalcomo, of Brazil’s leading public-health institute, Fiocruz.
“This politicisation of the drug by the US and Brazilian presidents for murky reasons has no justification, and it deceives people,” she told AFP.
“It has been proven this drug has no effect against COVID-19 … And it has potentially serious side-effects.”
Brazil recorded a new daily record of coronavirus cases on Wednesday with nearly 68,000 infections, a sign COVID-19 is still far from being brought under control in the hard-hit country.
The health ministry said 67,860 new infections and 1,284 deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours in Brazil, which has the second-biggest outbreak in the world after the United States.
The South American country of 212 million people has recorded 2.2 million infections and 82,771 deaths from the new coronavirus since confirming its first case five months ago. — NNN-AGENCIES
