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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday night that efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus in the country, such as social isolation, were “futile” and created unemployment.
“I already said that 70% of the population will become infected. From the looks of it, from what we’re seeing now, all the effort to flatten the curve was practically useless. Now the side effect of that: unemployment. People want to go back to work, ”Bolsonaro said, during a live video broadcast on Facebook.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Brazilian Ministry of Health itself recommend social isolation to face the covid-19 pandemic.
“Everyone knows that the younger they have the less problems (…) in case of infection with the virus. People under 40, of those infected with some other comorbidity, only about 0.2% is that the end is tragic ”, declared the head of state.
However, according to data published by the Brazilian Health Authority earlier this week, 31% of those who died in the country due to the new coronavirus were under the age of 60.
“The Brazilian government, since before the carnival, has already warned about the issue of the coronavirus in Brazil and has been taking steps in this direction. This problem concerns us all. We know what can happen in Brazil as a result of the virus problem and we know that unfortunately many people will die. We are sorry Unfortunately, it is a reality, ”added the representative.
Brazil’s Health Minister Nelson Teich on Thursday criticized the political polarization created around social isolation as a measure against COVID-19, reinforcing that distance remains the direction of guardianship.
“I see this [isolamento social] much more like a political discussion than a social discussion. If we do not stop to see what is happening, to understand what it represents for society and to polarize ourselves, it will not lead to anything, ”Teich said at a press conference in Brasilia.
The minister’s statement was made after being asked if, given the nearly 6,000 deaths in the country due to the new coronavirus, the guardianship would reinforce the need to maintain social distance or would begin to request a reduction in these measures, such as advocates the head of state, Jair Bolsonaro.
“Distance is still orientation. We will evaluate each place, each region, each city to see how the pollution curve evolves, what is the resource that each city has to deal with people, this is what will define [o prolongamento do distanciamento social]”The government official said.
On Thursday, the Maranhão State Judge decreed a ‘blockade’ (total blockade) in four municipalities of the São Luís Metropolitan Region, for a period of ten days, starting on May 5. This was the first ‘blockade’ enacted in Brazil, since the pandemic hit the country in late February. The decision was made after the cities had almost exhausted their hospital capacity.
Brazil recorded an additional 435 deaths from people infected with the new coronavirus and a record 7,218 new infections in the past 24 hours, the country’s Ministry of Health reported Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the South American country has registered 5,901 deaths and 85,380 confirmed cases of covid-19 infection. However, the possible relationship of 1,539 deaths with the new coronavirus is still being investigated.
Globally, according to a report by the AFP news agency, the covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 230,000 deaths and infected more than 3.2 million people in 195 countries and territories.
