RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday cast doubt on Sao Paulo’s death toll from the coronavirus break out and implicated the state governor of manipulating the numbers for political ends, without giving evidence for his claims.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro speaks at media statement announcing financial procedures during the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil, March 27,2020 REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Bolsonaro’s allegations were the most recent broadside in an unsightly fight with Brazil’s guvs, who have actually chafed at the president’s view that protecting the economy takes top priority over social distancing measures to combat the spread of the highly infectious virus.
Following the guidance of public health specialists, the huge bulk of the nation’s 26 governors have banned non-essential commercial activities and civil services to include the outbreak in their states.
” I’m sorry, some people will pass away, they will die, that’s life,” Bolsonaro stated in a television interview on Friday night. “You can’t stop a vehicle factory due to the fact that of traffic deaths.”
Bolsonaro said that in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic powerhouse, the death toll appeared “too big.” Sao Paulo has the most cases and deaths up until now of coronavirus in Brazil, at 1,223 cases