Published 18:46 IST, July 22nd 2020
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tests COVID-19 positive for third time
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on July 21 informed that he took another coronavirus test, the result came out positive on July 22.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on July 21 informed that he took another coronavirus test for which the results were awaited today. According to the secretariat of the Communications Ministry, the result has come out positive for the third time in the past two weeks. Bolsonaro reportedly got infected by the coronavirus and first tested positive on July 7 and on July 15 he took the test against which produced similar results. But the Brazilian president told reporters on Tuesday that he is hoping for a change this time, which did not happen.
Bolsonaro downplaying threat
Brazil is the second most affected country in the world right now, after the United States and the presidents of both nations are guilty of the same thing, downplaying the threat of the deadly pandemic. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro before he had contracted the disease, used to go out in public without a face covering to encourage people to get back to normal business and reopen the economy. Bolsonaro like his US counterpart had also said that he was taking the anti-malarial drug - hydroxychloroquine, which is an unproven treatment for COVID-19 patients and reportedly credited the medicine for his mild symptoms after getting infected.
The former Army captain prior to testing positive had been attending public rallies, hugging supporters, meeting people in close proximity on a daily basis despite warnings from health experts. Bolsonaro’s prior tests were conducted using pseudonyms, as is customary for medical tests performed on Brazilian leaders in order to preserve their privacy. According to figures by Johns Hopkins University, Brazil currently has 2.1 million cases and over 81,000 deaths.
Updated 18:46 IST, July 22nd 2020