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Amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, the populist president Jair Bolsonaro is refusing to sacrifice the economy for the sake of public health. Just like him, his supporters downplay the crisis and denounce the "coronavirus tyranny". But local authorities have taken the lead and have adopted lockdown measures against the president's advice. Even in the favelas, the locals are afraid of Covid-19 and are doing what they can. With 13 million people living in these cramped working-class neighbourhoods, the threat of a health disaster is only too real. Our reporters in Brazil investigate.
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Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic reached Brazil, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has constantly downplayed what he considers to be a "little flu", denouncing the "hysteria" of the media and openly disregarding the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Part of the population and many key business leaders are encouraging Brazilians to keep working to save the country's economy, siding with the head of state.
But the governors of the country's 26 states have nonetheless taken the lead and adopted lockdown measures against the presidents advice. In the state of Rio de Janeiro, already one of the worst affected, Governor Wilson Witzel imposed lockdown as early as mid-March. A war-like operation is taking place in the city: eight field hospitals are currently being built in preparation for the peak of the pandemic, expected for the end of May. Suspicions of corruption are already hanging over construction contracts and purchases of ventilators.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro is calling for a "return to normality" and the re-opening ofRead More – Source
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