Bolsonaro slated over Covid

BRASILIA: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tried to sabotage efforts to slow the spread of Covid19 in his country and pursued policies that undermine the rights of Brazilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

The Supreme Court, Congress and other institutions had stepped up to protect Brazilians and blocked some of Bolsonaro’s most damaging policies, the rights group said in its annual world report.

Bolsonaro wanted to remove the authority of states to restrict people’s movements as they sought to contain the world’s seconddeadliest Covid19 outbreak, but the Supreme Court ruled against him.

It also stopped his government withholding Covid19 data from the public, overturned a presidential veto of legislation requiring the use of masks in prison, and ordered his administration to draft a plan to protect Brazil’s vulnerable indigenous peoples from the pandemic.

Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the gravity of Covid19, calling it ‘‘a little flu’’ and criticising lockdowns and social distancing. HRW said he had disseminated misleading information about the virus.

The president’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Bolsonaro has argued lockdowns damage Brazil’s economy. — Reuters