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Strong protests have erupted across Brazil as the country’s skeptical Covid president Jair Bolsonaro struggled to defend his handling of the pandemic, claiming that citizens could soon resume their “normal lives” despite the high death toll.
Bolsonaro, whose anti-scientific response to the coronavirus has drawn international condemnation, made a televised address to the country Tuesday night as Brazil suffered by far the heaviest day of losses since the outbreak began last February.
According to a coalition of Brazilian newsgroups, which has been counting since the Bolsonaro administration was accused of trying to suppress such information last year, a record 3,158 deaths were recorded on Tuesday, as well as 84,996 new infections. Brazil’s official death toll, already the second highest in the world after the United States, rose to 298,843 and is likely to exceed 300,000 on Wednesday. About a third of the world’s total deaths were recorded in Brazil on Tuesday.
“What I see before me is a country that does not value the lives of its citizens”, scientist and broadcaster Átila Iamarino said about his government’s response.
In a four-minute pronouncement that was met with shouts of anger and frustration in some of Brazil’s largest cities, Bolsonaro defended his reaction to the epidemic, claiming that by opposing containment measures such as the lockdown, he had been trying to protect jobs and avoid “financial problems”. chaos”.
“I want to reassure the Brazilian people and let them know that vaccines are assured,” said the far-right populist whom critics accuse of undermining vaccination efforts by promising not to vaccinate himself and not getting enough vaccines for the rest of the country. . .
Bolsonaro, who has dismissed Covid-19 as a “little flu,” blamed the current drama in Brazil on the new P1 variant that is believed to have emerged late last year in the Brazilian Amazon and stated: “Very soon we will resume our lives. normal”.
“We are tireless in our fight against the coronavirus, this is our mission and we will fulfill it,” added the former army captain.
The pronouncement came almost exactly one year after Bolsonaro delivered a now-notorious television speech in which he claimed fears about the pandemic were overblown “and it will soon pass.”
“In my particular case, due to my experience as an athlete, I would not have to worry if I was infected by the virus,” Bolsonaro boasted on March 24, 2020, when the death toll in Brazil was 46, which caused noisy marijuana hits. protests across the country.
Dissidence returned in force on Tuesday with strong protests in major cities such as Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Recife as Bolsonaro spoke. In Rio de Janeiro, dissidents could be heard piling up contempt and insults to the president from the windows of apartment buildings where residents have lost their lives. “Murderer!”, “Liar!” they yelled. “Go away, Bolsonaro!”
Experts and scientific evidence contradict Bolsonaro’s claim that Brazil will soon return to “normal life” and many state capitals are now entering a period of lockdown despite their opposition to such measures.
“This is the most severe moment of the pandemic and the prognosis is not good,” said Margareth Dalholm, a pulmonologist at the Fiocruz public health institute.
“The situation is dramatic. Hospitals are completely exploding. There are no more beds available, not even for the rich, “added Dalholm, calling for a two-week lockdown that could slow the spread of the virus.
On Tuesday, more than 1,000 deaths were reported in the state of São Paulo alone. The state governor, João Doria, blamed the calamity on the “psychopathic leader” of Brazil.
