(Brasilia) Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, infected with the coronavirus, rode his motorcycle on Thursday and spoke without a mask with street sweepers near his residence in Brasilia, according to photos released to the media.
Posted on 23 July 2020 at 21 h 22
France Media Agency
M. Bolsonaro, 65 years old, announced on July 7 that he had contracted COVID – 19 and said on Wednesday that according to a new test he was still positive. He appears in photos released Thursday without a helmet and mask chatting with a street sweeper, who is also not wearing a mask.
In another photo, the president is helmeted, but the visor of his helmet is raised and he greets at a certain distance two sweepers near the Alvorada palace, his official residence in Brasilia, where he has been confined since that the diagnosis of contamination has been made.
Asked by AFP about this episode, the communications secretariat of Planalto, the Brazilian presidency, replied “Planalto will not comment”.
In a post he posted to Facebook on Thursday, Mr Bolsonaro said he feels “very good” but is “a little stressed to be locked up”.
As of Thursday, Brazil, which is after the United States the country most heavily affected by COVID – 19, had nearly 2.3 million cases of contamination and more than 84 000 0 deaths .
M. Bolsonaro, a former far-right soldier, has often downplayed the severity of the pandemic, which he has long called “the flu”. He criticized the containment measures decided by the governors of Brazilian states, emphasizing the need not to block the national economy.
“We are concerned about lives, but the side effect of this policy (of quarantines, editor's note) will kill more people than the virus,” he repeated.
A federal parliamentarian, Marcelo Freixo, criticized the behavior of the president. This motorcycle ride is “the image of Bolsonaro's monstrosity and his contempt for the lives of Brazilians,” he tweeted.
Since becoming infected, Mr. Bolsonaro, who works on videoconferencing, has been used to walking around the gardens of Alvorada Palace. He sometimes spoke with supporters who had come to greet him, keeping a certain safe distance.
