As Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro kept his name in the headlines over the last weeks by firing ministers and attacking governors, the Supreme Court and Congress, investors fretted over the prospect of a political crisis on top of the coronavirus pandemic.
Former president Lula da Silva says he fears a “genocide” in Brazil because of fierce opposition to coronavirus containment measures by current President Jair Bolsonaro, whom he said should be impeached. Lula is a former union leader who fought Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985), then became one of the country's most popular presidents with an anti-poverty crusade.
Brazil registered a record number of new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday surpassing France's tally to become the sixth-worst hit country, as the coronavirus sends the economy towards its worst year since at least 1900.
Brazil deployed thousands of soldiers to protect the Amazon rainforest this week, taking precautions to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, as the government mounts an early response to surging deforestation ahead of the high season for forest fires.
Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has said the spread of coronavirus in Brazil threatens his country's success in containing the virus. Mr Benítez said more than half of Paraguay's 563 cases were people who had entered from neighbouring Brazil.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday declared gyms and hair salons as essential services that can stay open through the new coronavirus outbreak, easing measures to control the disease despite new cases and deaths surging in the country.
Brazil, the hardest-hit Latin American country in the coronavirus pandemic, has surpassed 11,000 deaths, according to figures released on Sunday by the Ministry of Health.
The governor of Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America, said on Friday he was extending stay-at-home measures until May 31, ignoring opposition from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released on Friday, a worrying trend after the devastation caused by record fires last year.
The biggest threat to Brazil's ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.