Brasilia: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that he did not want to be “bored” with questions about the milestone of 600,000 COVID-19 deaths that Latin America’s biggest country passed a few days ago.
Bolsonaro’s poll numbers have fallen due to his handling of the pandemic, rising inflation and a weak economy. Brazil has the world’s second highest COVID-19 death toll after the United States, and Bolsonaro has long sought to minimise the impact of the virus, touting unproven cures and railing against lockdowns.
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On Monday, Bolsonaro was surrounded by supporters at the beach in Guaruja, in Sao Paulo state, when a journalist asked him about the country’s death toll.
“In which country did people not die? Tell me!” he responded. “Look, I didn’t come here to be bored.”
Currently, 601,011 people have died from COVID-19 in Brazil, with over 21.5 million cases total.
(Reuters)