MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro rules out lockdown despite growing number of covid-19 cases and mounting pressure

“We will not accept the policy of staying home, closing everything...” said Bolsonaro

Despite the growing number of covid-19 cases nationwide, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Wednesday insisted there would be no further restrictive measures and ruled out a full-scale lockdown.

“It would be much easier for us to sit still and calm down, not touch on this topic or get together, as some want. The national lockdown. There will be no national lockdown,” said Bolsonaro during a visit to the municipality of Chapecó, in the west of the southern state of Santa Catarina.

“We will look for alternatives, we will not accept the policy of staying home, closing everything, blocking. The virus is not going away. This virus, like others, is here to stay, and will stay for life. It is practically impossible to eradicate it,” the president went on.

He spoke out in favor of the so-called early treatment, with the use of drugs without proven efficacy against the disease and that, according to the Brazilian Medical Association, should be prohibited from being used against Covid. “I do not know how to save lives, I am not a doctor, I am not a nurse, but I cannot choose the freedom of the doctor or even the nurse. You have to find an alternative to that,” Bolsonaro insisted.

The president made it clear doctors have autonomy and freedom to choose which treatment to apply, including unproven drugs for the ailment, such as chloroquine.

Actions to restrict the circulation of people are encouraged by health officials to deal with the pandemic in the country, which is experiencing its peak and currently accounts for one in three deaths from the pathogen in the world.

In addition, the overload of hospitals, observed by the occupation of beds in the Intensive Care Units, continues to be high.

Brazil on Tuesday registered a record 4,195 deaths from covid-19 for a total 336,947, the Ministry of Health said and 86,979 new cases had been detected, bringing the national tally to around 13,100,580.

Health authorities in the hard-hit city of Sao Paulo warned that April will be the worst month of the pandemic, eclipsing the deaths seen in March throughout Brazil.

Brazil started vaccinating in January and has so far inoculated 20,023,132 people with at least one dose, while 5,595,929 people have received both doses, according to official data.