Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who spends several days on vacation at the beach, became angry when a woman asked him about the more than 600,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the country.
“In which country did people not die?” – Bolsonaro asked three times, who, faced with the woman’s lack of response, added clearly upset: “Look, I did not come here to be upset.”
Brazil broke the 600,000 coronavirus-related death barrier last Friday, and so far, the head of state has yet to comment on this tragic milestone that only the United States has so far crossed.
Before being questioned by his wife, speaking with some supporters at Guaruja Beach in São Paulo, Bolsonaro assured that the country is “emerging from this health crisis” given that the pandemic is “practically over” given the sharp decline in deaths and infections. registered in recent months.
This vertical drop in statistics is due primarily to the development of vaccination, which currently covers 47% of the 213 million Brazilians with a full vaccination schedule, while just over 70% receive only the first dose.
“They call me a denier, and we gave 20 billion reais (about 3.13 billion euros) to buy vaccines,” added the leader of the Brazilian far-right, who has always minimized its severity since the beginning of the pandemic. the effectiveness of immunizing agents.
Bolsonaro again criticized the “stay at home, the economy comes later” policy, citing incarceration and other measures that limited mobility during the worst moments of the health crisis, which were adopted by governors and mayors.
“Now we have inflation and we are all paying the bills,” said the president, who believes that the loss in purchasing power of the Brazilians and the rise in prices recorded this year, already close to 9%, are the result of these restrictive measures. measures.
Brazil is the Portuguese-speaking country hardest hit by the pandemic and one of the hardest hit in the world, with a total of 601,011 deaths and more than 21.5 million infections caused by the novel coronavirus.
