Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19, after months of downplaying the severity of the virus.
Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia, and said he was already taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug unproven against COVID-19.
The far-right populist has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask.
He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus, and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu” were he to contract it.
He has repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70 percent of the population falling ill with COVID-19, and that local authorities’ measures to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.
Bolsonaro on Tuesday repeated those sentiments, comparing the virus to a rain that will fall on most people, and that some, like the elderly, must take greater care.
Cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as their statistical curves of deaths began to decline along with the occupation rate of its intensive-care units.
Brazil, the world’s sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.
Bolsonaro said he has canceled his trip planned for this week to the northeast region. He will continue working via video conference and receive rare visitors when he needs to sign a document, he said.
The president underwent an X-ray of his lungs on Monday after experiencing fever, muscle aches and malaise, he told reporters.
As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, he said, and attributed the improvement in his condition to hydroxychloroquine – a drug that has not been proven against the virus.
He stepped back from the journalists and removed his mask at one point to demonstrate that he looks well.
Over the weekend, the Brazilian leader celebrated the U.S. Independence Day with the nation’s ambassador to Brazil, then shared pictures on social media showing him with his arm around the ambassador alongside several ministers and aides. None wore masks, despite being in close quarters.
The U.S. Embassy said on Twitter on Monday that Ambassador Todd Chapman is not showing any COVID-19 symptoms but would be tested.
Bolsonaro tested negative three times in March after meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida. Multiple members of his delegation to the U.S. were later reported to be infected with the virus.
More than 65,000 Brazilians have so far died from COVID-19 and more than 1,500,000 have been infected. Both numbers are the world’s second-highest totals, and are considered to be undercounts to the lack of widespread testing.
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