Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro He said Saturday that he had tested negative for the coronavirus, according to a fourth test since he said on July 7 that he had the virus.
“Good morning everyone,” Bolsonaro wrote on Facebook after reporting that the test was “negative.”
The 65-year-old leader did not say when he did the new test. On Wednesday, he had tested positive for the third time.
Bolsonaro also posted a photo of himself with a box of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, although its efficacy against the virus has not been proven.
Now that Bolsonaro is virus-free, he is expected to re-mix in crowds as he used to before his diagnosis. He had spent many weekends since the start of the pandemic in close proximity to supporters, sometimes without wearing a mask.
On Thursday, he was photographed without a mask while talking to some street sweepers in the garden of the presidential residence.
Brazil, the largest nation in Latin America, is one of the epicenters of the outbreak. According to the Brazilian government, on Friday there were 85,238 confirmed deaths due to the new coronavirus. The country has 2,343,366 confirmed cases. The actual numbers are believed to be higher.
On Monday, two more ministers in the Brazilian president’s cabinet said they tested positive for the new coronavirus: 65-year-old citizenship minister Onyx Lorenzoni and 62-year-old education minister Milton Ribeiro.
Bolsonaro’s administration last week completed two months without a health minister.
The acting minister, General Eduardo Pazuello, who had no experience in the field before April, faces pressure to quit his job. He took over after his predecessor, a doctor and healthcare consultant, resigned in protest at Bolsonaro’s support for the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, a related drug, as a treatment for COVID-19
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