Brazilian federal police on Tuesday raided the residences of Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel as part of a COVID-19 corruption probe, targeting one of President Jair Bolsonaro's political foes as the pandemic sweeps the nation.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro expects the Supreme Court to find no wrongdoing and end an investigation into potential political interference in the federal police, according to a statement from the presidential palace on Monday.
On Apr 22, Brazil was fast becoming a new coronavirus flashpoint, but President Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet barely mentioned the pandemic in a videotaped meeting that has triggered outrage and fuelled a potentially explosive investigation.
Brazil became the world No 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases on Friday, second only to the United States, after it confirmed that 330,890 people had been infected by the virus, overtaking Russia, the Health Ministry said.
President Jair Bolsonaro's government warned on Friday that Brazil's “national security” would be at risk if investigators granted a request to seize the far-right leader's cell phone in an obstruction of justice investigation.
Brazil's coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the country with a population of 210 million could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day.
British supermarkets have warned Brazil they might have to boycott its products if lawmakers there pass a contentious bill that could enable faster destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil has the third-highest number of novel coronavirus cases in the world, according to official figures released on Monday, a troubling surge for a country struggling to respond to the pandemic.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro again disregarded public health advice amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday to snap photos with lockdown protesters, as the country’s largest city of Sao Paulo struggles to keep its healthcare system afloat with public hospitals at 90 percent capacity.
Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned on Friday after less than a month on the job over what an official said was “incompatibility” with President Jair Bolsonaro's approach to fighting the country's spiraling coronavirus crisis.