Brazil President Bolsonaro To Undergo Probe For COVID-19 Pandemic Handling

World leaders have different ways of handling the current COVID-19 pandemic and not all have been given passing marks. It appears one of them is Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro who will reportedly be probed on his handling of the coronavirus situation in the country.

According to reports, Brazil’s senate will probe Bolsonaro on how he handled the COVID-19 pandemic while also look into how he used federal resources were distributed to states. This came after some Bolsonaro-aligned lawmakers pushed for an inquiry to check on how states and municipalities have handled the pandemic.

Known by its Portuguese acronym CPI, the investigation could result in several actions, including the referral of possible wrongdoing to law enforcement. This may add to the woes of Bolsonaro who is already facing record disapproval amid Brazil’s worst coronavirus wave.

Like other countries, the pandemic has taken its toll on the medical system of Brazil. A reason behind this is the P1-variant which is branded infectious and deadly by medical experts.

As of this writing, Brazil has 13.7 million cases with roughly 362,000 deaths. 12 million have recovered per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tuesday alone saw 3,808 locals die of COVID-19. Brazil owns the second-highest death toll in the world due to the coronavirus behind the United States.

Also, the people getting hit are getting younger. Over 50% of intensive care beds are occupied by patients under 40-years-old according to a study published over the weekend by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine.

As for Bolsonaro, he has gained criticism for his approach to the virus which he described as a “little flu.” Further, he made calls to ignore calls by health experts to continue observing health protocols such as wearing masks and was against the use of lockdown measures.

Upon learning that he would be under investigation, Bolsonaro blasted lawmakers about the move. A Supreme Court judge ruled last week that there were enough senators who backed an inquiry into the government’s pandemic response to launch the probe despite efforts to stall by Senate leaders.