Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19

Fourth time is not at all a charm for Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro. “It came back positive,” said Jair Bolsonaro, who repeatedly flouted pandemic measures amid COVID-19. He announced on July 7 that he has tested positive for COVID-19 after months of downplaying the virus’ severity. Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in capital Brasilia.

Earlier Bolsonaro tested negative thrice in March after meeting with the US President Donald Trump in Florida. However several members of his delegation to US were later reported to infected with the virus.

“I’m well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendations,” Bolsonaro said.

The president 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 also 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.

Brazil, the world’s sixth most populous nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the global hot spots of the pandemic.