Brazil's Bolsonaro fires health minister Mandetta after dispute over coronavirus response

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro fired his health minister on Thursday after a series of disagreements over government efforts to contain new coronavirus. "I just heard from President Jair Bolsonaro news of my dismissal from health ministry,” Luiz Henrique Mandetta posted on his verified Twitter profile, ding that he wished success to his replacement, who is yet to be named officially.

Mandetta, a doctor, garnered popular support for his pandemic response that included promotion of bro isolation measures enacted by state goverrs. Bolsonaro, for his part, repeatedly characterized virus as a “little flu,” said shutting down ecomy would cause more dam than confining only high-risk Brazilians, and touted yet-unproven efficacy of an anti-malarial drug.

Mandetta has drawn comparisons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. President Donald Trump's top virus expert. Fauci and Mandetta have often me public statements about virus that differed with those of ir bosses. Afterward, Bolsonaro and Trump's bases each took to Twitter to call for removal of ir country's top health official. White House has said this week that Fauci’s job is secure.

Republicans close to White House say Trump has complained about Fauci’s positive media attention and sought to leave him out of task force briefings. Bolsonaro, likewise, h convened doctors without inviting Mandetta and, in a televised interview earlier this month, said Mandetta h failed to show “humility.” A few days later, on April 5, Bolsonaro told a group of supporters that he would act against officials in his government who “are full of mselves.”

Those comments were widely understood as signaling an end to Mandetta’s tenure, so much so that minister said next day his subordinates h cleaned out his desk.

He survived, but questions have since swirled over wher Bolsonaro h indeed backed away from dismissing man whose COVID-19 response was welcomed by many Brazilians, or if he were just biding his time while recruiting a replacement.

On Wednesday, with Mandetta's dismissal looking near certain, his health surveillance secretary Wanderson de Oliveira tendered his resignation. An epidemiologist who worked at health ministry for more than a dece, de Oliveira presided over many of press conferences when Mandetta was unable, and was also a booster of quarantine measures to prevent virus' spre.

To many people's surprise, de Oliveira appeared alongside Mandetta at ir conference on same day, saying he h refused his secretary's resignation.

“We are going to work toger until moment we leave toger,” Mandetta said.

While rising quickly, number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil is still relatively low in relation to country’s massive population of 211 million. re have been almost 2,000 deaths.