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Brazil downplays the threat of coronavirus: “it is overstated”

Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 08:55 UTC
Full article 2 comments
“In my opinion, that virus's destructive power is overstated. Maybe it is even potentially being exaggerated for political reasons,” Bolsonaro said. “In my opinion, that virus's destructive power is overstated. Maybe it is even potentially being exaggerated for political reasons,” Bolsonaro said.

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro minimized the threat of the new coronavirus - which has killed nearly 4,000 people in more than 60 countries and tanked global financial markets, saying its destructive power has been “overstated”.

The fall of world markets “basically has to do with the price of oil, which sank 30%, and with the coronavirus issue too”, said the right wing president to a crowd of about 200 Brazilian supporters in Miami, where he visited in an effort to drum up foreign investment.

“In my opinion, that virus's destructive power is overstated. Maybe it is even potentially being exaggerated for political reasons,” Bolsonaro said.

The Sao Paulo exchange plummeted more than 12% on Monday, its biggest fall since 1998, and shares of Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras dropped more than 31%, as world investors panicked in the face of the spread of the new coronavirus and plunging oil prices.

Bolsonaro travelled around Florida to boost investor confidence in Latin America's biggest economy. While visiting the state, Bolsonaro met with US President Donald Trump at the latter's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, north of Miami.

Trump has faced criticism for his own efforts to downplay the coronavirus's threat by repeatedly contradicting government public health expert.

However the head of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that “the threat of a pandemic has become very real” as cases rise around the globe, including in Brazil.

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  • DemonTree

    https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-11/italy-doctors-coronavirus-covid-19-quarantine-milan-health/

    She said: ”There are a lot of young people in our Intensive Care Units (ICUs) - our youngest is a 38-year-old who had had no comorbidities (underlying health problems).

    “A lot of patients need help with breathing but there are not enough ventilators.

    ”They've told us that starting from now we'll have to choose who to intubate - priority will go to the young or those without comorbidities.

    “At Niguarda, the other big hospital in Milan, they are not intubating anyone over 60, which is really, really young.”

    “Lombardy, which has the best healthcare in the country, is collapsing, so I don’t dare to think what would happen in less efficient regions.”

    But Brazil's healthcare will have no problems?

    Mar 12th, 2020 - 09:42 am 0
  • RMN

    I suppose he's right. What's serious about a global pandemic when you're already implementing the destruction of the Amazon rain forest?

    Mar 14th, 2020 - 05:37 pm 0
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