Logo

Logo

Two Brazil state governors test positive for coronavirus

Social distancing policies have been attacked by Bolsonaro, who accuses them of needlessly wrecking Latin America’s biggest economy over a disease the far-right president has compared to a “little flu.”

Two Brazil state governors test positive for coronavirus

Rio de Janeiro Governors Wilson Witzel (Photo: AFP)

Two Brazilian state governors who have criticized President Jair Bolsonaro’s calls to relax COVID-19 containment measures said on Tuesday that they had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Governors Wilson Witzel of Rio de Janeiro and Helder Barbalho of the northern took to Twitter and posted a video message, announcing their diagnoses and urging people to stay home to fight the spread of the virus.

Witzel, a leading proponent of closing non-essential businesses and ordering people to stay home, said he had started feeling unwell Friday, with a fever, sore throat and loss of smell, a key symptom of the virus.

Advertisement

“Today, the test result came back positive… Now, thank God, I’m feeling better, and will continue working while following my doctors’ advice”, Witzel added.

Social distancing policies have been attacked by Bolsonaro, who accuses them of needlessly wrecking Latin America’s biggest economy over a disease the far-right president has compared to a “little flu.”

Last month, Witzel fired back that Bolsonaro’s defiance of guidelines from the United Nations and World Health Organization could be considered a “crime against humanity.”

According to data from the Brazilian health ministry, around 63,000 people had been tested until April 9 out of the 1,27,000 suspected coronavirus cases.

The right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro had been downplaying the risk of the virus outbreak in his country by asking people to return to normalcy.

Meanwhile, the deadly coronavirus infection has claimed more than 1,20,000 lives across the world and has infected over 19,36,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019.

China was the most affected country until last month before Italy, Spain, Iran, the US, France, the UK, Belgium surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world due to COVID-19.

The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.

Advertisement