Jair Bolsonaro, the 65-year-old Brazilian President has tested positive for COVID-19.
Jair Bolsonaro tests positive joins list of world leaders infected with COVID-19.
Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian President has tested positive for COVID-19. He once announced the diagnosis on television several months after he was diagnosed with what was once called a “minor fever.”
Reality check
For months, Jair Bolsonaro has said that the panic surrounding COVID-19 has been high, and has criticized any calls to take the threat seriously. Brazil is now the second most severely affected country, which is only dwarfed by the US.
Despite reports of 65,000 virus-related deaths in Brazil, Bolsonaro underestimated the impact of the COVID-19 infection. He appeared in public without a mask and even hugged supporters.
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After experiencing symptoms of fatigue, muscle pain and fever, his tone changed this week. The 65-year-old leader sought a test and announced on TV on Tuesday that he had contracted COVID-19.
But even when he realized that he had fallen ill, he continued to develop his image by justifying his dangerous behaviour. “I must confess,” he said, “that I thought I had already received this because of my very active activity in the face of the people. And I can tell you. I am the President, I am on the front lines.
“Because of my contact with people, I thought I was already contracted. I didn’t notice it. The vast majority of Brazilian people control the virus. They don’t know it.”
World leaders with “Positive” COVID-10 results
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Bolsonaro is now joining the list of world leaders infected with the virus.
In March, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson ended up in the hospital with the worst case of COVID-19. The Tory leader rejected the threat of the epidemic before he was personally affected.
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President Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras recently returned to the hospital for two weeks with a serious case of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mikhustin tested positive in April and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in June.
At a low, but important office this Monday, Mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, revealed that she and her husband have tested positive. Keisha has emerged as a recognizable face in this year’s news.
She has led the war against dual crises in her city: an epidemic that disproportionately affects communities of color and civil unrest amid the national movement for racial justice.
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Lance is reportedly running for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
