Covid-19: Country Needs to Be Informed without Panic, Says Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday, April 12th, that the country needs to be made aware of what is “really happening,” but without panic.

While not directly mentioning the social isolation practiced in several Brazilian states, as well as around the world, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro said people need freedom.

“We need freedom more and more. The country needs to be made aware of what is really happening. Not through panic, but through messages of peace, of comfort, to prepare for reality”.

His speech took place at the opening of a videoconference with Catholic and Evangelical representatives to celebrate Easter. This celebration was broadcast live on the Planalto Palace and Bolsonaro’s social media.

The President is an advocate for an end to the isolation measures enforced on society to prevent the highly contagious Covid-19 from spreading even further throughout the country. The virus has already killed 1,124 people in Brazil, according to the Ministry of Health’s latest assessment. Almost 21,000 people are infected.

Bolsonaro, however, is concerned about the economic losses that come with social isolation, since much of ]commerce is closed. Sectors such as tourism and restaurants, among others, have already recorded significant losses.

To fight the recession, the President advocates the so-called “vertical isolation”. Only high-risk groups would remain isolated at home. In other words, the elderly and chronically ill would remain at home, while young and healthy adults would leave to work as usual.

Bolsonaro started his speech stating that Brazil is “the most Christian country in the world,” he said we are experiencing a difficult time, although not directly mentioning the novel coronavirus. He then added that only God has the cure.

“We are living in a difficult moment. We know who can heal us [at that moment, Bolsonaro points up]. God is always above all. We, here on earth, have to do our part”.

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