WORLD: Brazil passes 101 cases as president rejects lockdowns

As coronavirus cases in Brazil soared pasts 100,000, placing the country among the most contaminated in the world extreme right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro continued his opposition to lockdown when on Sunday, May 3 he told thousands of followers in Brasilia “The destruction of jobs by some governors is irresponsible and inadmissible”.

“We are going to pay dearly for it in the future,” he said in a broadcast of the demonstration live on Facebook.

In Brazil, confinement measures are the responsibility of state governors, who impose them locally, more or less strictly.

Sunday’s demonstration in Brasilia gathered a larger crowd than in previous weeks, with many banners against Rodrigo Maia, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Sergio Moro, the former Justice Minister, who resigned last week with accusations with accusations of interference againstBolsonaro.Some of those present called for “military intervention”.

But, unlike previous protests, the far-right president, who was not wearing a mask, kept his distance from his followers, from the ramp of his official residence at the Palacio de la Alvorada.

Instead of encouraging the crowd, the president settled for making a short speech on camera. He then went down the ramp with his nine-year-old daughter Laura to greet the protesters, but he stayed more than two meters from the crowd.

“The people and the army are with us, on the side of the law, order, freedom, and democracy,” he said.

he Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, one of the most important in the country, reported that a group of protesters pushed and kicked one of its photographers and his driver.

Seventh in deaths

Brazil exceeded 101 ,000 cases of covid-19 on Sunday, with more than 7,000 deaths.

The South American giant, with more than 210,000 million inhabitants, is ranked ninth in the world in terms of infected people, with 101,147 cases, according to the latest official balance from the Ministry of Health.

However, it is the seventh in relation to the deceased, surpassing Germany, with 275 new deaths by COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Many specialists consider that the total contaminated could be 15 times higher than that reported by the authorities since detection tests are only being carried out on seriously ill patients.

Most experts also consider that the peak of the pandemic is still far from being reached. In many states, the situation is already critical, with hospitals overwhelmed by the flow of patients.