Brazil’s President Jail Bolsonaro continues to speak against country’s lockdown on Sunday in a speech to thousands of anti-confinement demonstrators. This comes as the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections passed 100,000, with more than 7,000 deaths in the country. Bolsonaro blamed state governors for continuing the lockdown in a speech outside his presidential palace in Brasilia.
“The destruction of jobs by some governors is irresponsible and unacceptable. We will pay a high price in the future,” the head of state said in a speech broadcast live on Facebook.
On Sunday lunchtime Bolsonaro appeared outside his palace in Brasília, where a crowd of several hundred hardcore supporters had gathered with yellow and green flags and vuvuzelas.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly clashed with state governors, insisting that strict containment measures they are imposing are an overreaction, and damaging to the economy. Bolsonaro’s outing – apparently an attempt to project strength in the face of a mounting political and economic crisis – drew immediate criticism for defying continuous warning by health care workers to maintain social distancing and wearing masks.
The country registered 101,147 confirmed cases of the virus by Sunday, according to figures released by the Brazilian health ministry, with 275 deaths from COVID-19 within the previous 24 hours.
Experts believe the overall number of COVID-19 cases could be 12 to 15 times higher, due to a large number of undetected cases given the lack of testing availability across the country’s 210 million population.
The demonstration in Brasilia drew a larger crowd than similar protests in recent weeks, and many people held up banners criticising Bolsonaro critics Rodrigo Maia, head of the chamber of deputies, and former justice minister Sergio Moro who resigned last week. Others in the crowd called on the army to intervene.
“The people are with us and the army is on the side of the law, order, freedom and democracy,” Bolsonaro told them. Experts are bracing for the biggest outbreak in South America to get far worse, as the peak of the pandemic is thought to be some weeks away.
Last week, Rio de Janeiro state said it would extend stay-at-home orders until May 11, ignoring Bolsonaro’s demands that local and state authorities encourage Brazilians to get back to work.
The country has reported 101,826 cases of infections and 7,051 deaths till now according to Johns Hopkins University data.