Brazil’s President Bolsonaro Recovers From COVID-19

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has recovered from coronavirus few weeks after being diagnosed on July 7, attributing his recovery to an unproven malaria drug.

Announcing his health status, the 65-year-old posted a photo of himself smiling and holding a packet of hydroxychloroquine, whose effectiveness against COVID-19 has not been demonstrated in clinical trials.

– RT-PCR para Sars-Cov 2: negativo.
– BOM DIA A TODOS. pic.twitter.com/CkdV59yGXP

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) July 25, 2020

He however did not say when he took the latest test.

Later, local media reported that he took a motorcycle ride through Brasilia and visited some shops, with small crowds gathering around him.

According to videos played by the local media, he said;

I didn’t feel anything, not even in the beginning. If I hadn’t taken the test, I wouldn’t have known I had the virus.

The president, who has routinely downplayed the virus he calls a “little flu” but which is currently ravaging his country, spent nearly 20 days self-isolating at his official residence in the capital Brasilia, the Alvorada Palace.

During that time he underwent at least three more virus tests, which all came back positive before his last test.

The pandemic has exploded in Brazil, the country with the most infections and deaths from COVID-19 anywhere in the world except the United States.

The Latin American powerhouse has registered nearly 2.3 million cases of the new coronavirus and more than 84,000 deaths, and the numbers have continued to rise rapidly.

However, Bolsonaro is a fierce critic of stay-at-home measures, arguing the economic pain they result in is worse than the virus itself.

The president has appeared to continue flouting virus precautions even after his diagnosis.

On Thursday, he was seen going for a spin on his motorcycle and chatting maskless with a team of groundskeepers outside the presidential palace.

The same day he admitted in a live Facebook video that he was feeling “a bit wretched at being imprisoned here.”

Bolsonaro also continued greeting supporters from quarantine, separated by a narrow reflecting pond but without a mask.