On Wednesday, Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 in Brazil reached 1,736 according to data from the Ministry of Health (Reuters 1). One day later, the Health Minister Henrique Mandetta announced his imminent removal from the position on Friday due to clashes with President Jair Bolsonaro (Reuters 1). The two disagreed on the correct approach to battle the coronavirus with the President characterizing it as a “little flu” in contrast to Mandetta (AP). Mandetta stated before his dismissile “we will not make any sudden movements” when it comes to the best way to fight the virus (Reuters 1).
Bolsonaro continues to say that shutting down the economy would cause more damage than confining high-risk Brazilians (AP). Conversely, Mandetta continuously advocatesd for the strict restrictions imposed by state governors in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 (Reuters 2). Brazilians showed more support for the Ministry of Health’s policies with 76% rating it as “good” or “excellent” according to a survey by Datafolha (Reuters 1). Only 33% of those surveyed also rated Bolsonaro the same (Reuters 1).
https://lta.reuters.com/articulo/salud-coronavirus-brasil-idLTAKBN21Y2RO
https://apnews.com/26dc693cc9777da62e2b609e97ae57f8
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-idUSKBN21Y338
https://apnews.com/26dc693cc9777da62e2b609e97ae57f8
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-idUSKBN21Y338