Brazil Coronavirus Update: Citizens Condemn Jair Bolsonaro For Disorganized Response To Covid-19

A sizeable portion of Brazil’s population is up in arms, owing to their far-right leader and president Jair Bolsonaro’s inept approach towards the global pandemic—COVID-19.

Citizens have resorted to panelaco—a pan-banging form of protest—since last Tuesday as an expression of angst after Bolsonaro continued to downplay the dangers of the highly contagious virus. The leader continued to focus on all being well, despite statistics showing otherwise.

At present, Brazil stands at 1,128 cases in total and 18 deaths currently. Yet, unlike the leaders of other nations, Bolsonaro’s muddled perspective gave out mixed signals to people.

Millions of citizens protested by pummeling saucepans on their balconies on Wednesday in states like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, urging the President to step down. Bolsonaro seemed to have triggered fury among his people after photographs of the leader mingling with supporters outside his residential address emerged last Sunday.

It irked millions to note how reckless Bolsonaro was in the face of the crisis, to overlook the medical advice to self-quarantine after his visit to Florida, to meet U.S President Donald Trump. While the President has checked for virus twice and has been tested negative, a volley of his delegates tested positive.

Hinting at the same, one of Brazil’s prominent dailies, Estado de São Paulo stated: “Scientists around the world are fighting to find a treatment for Covid-19. In Brazil, meanwhile, the current government’s incompetence is found to be incurable.”

Bolsonaro raised eyebrows when he condemned nation-wide lockdowns and self-isolation. “It’s an excessive dose of medicine – and too much medicine becomes poison,” Bolsonaro said to a media outlet, refusing to pay heed to the flak his administration amassed in the past couple of weeks. “I’m the manager of the team and the team is playing very well, thank God.” The Brazilian leader went on to term the whole precautionary approach as a media formed “hysteria” rather than a real issue that needed to be dealt with.

Things have reached dangerous levels as, Brazil’s health minister hinted at the pitiable state of affairs of the existing healthcare system—and was “likely to collapse by end of April.”