The Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, the state with the highest CoVID-19 death toll in hard-hit Brazil, said on Wednesday that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus and would continue working from quarantine.
Doria said in a statement, “I received my sixth COVID-19 test and this one was unfortunately positive”.
The Governor further said that he “absolutely asymptomatic. I feel fine and will follow the medical protocol at home”.
Sao Paulo has recorded 25,869 deaths from the disease and 655,181 cases, and an intensive care bed occupancy rate of 58.3 per cent, according to the state government.
Doria, an early and vocal advocate of lockdown measures to contain the virus, is a leading opponent of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who regularly downplays COVID-19 and argues the economic damage of business closures will be worse than the disease.
Earlier this month, President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, Army General Walter Souza Braga Netto had tested positive for the virus.
Last month, Bolsonaro himself tested positive for the virus spending three weeks in quarantine. Eight of his cabinet ministers and 11 of Brazil’s 27 governors, including Doria, have also tested positive.
His wife, First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro and the country’s Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Marcos Pontes were also infected.
Brazil has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the world after the United States, at more than 3.1 million and 103,000 respectively.
The state began a gradual reopening process in June, despite warnings from medical experts that it was still too soon.