‘Arrogance’
Covid-19 case was identified in Sao Paulo on February 26, with the first death on March 12, also in the city.
Brazil marked 50,000 deaths a hundred days later, but then doubled that total in just half the time.
Infections have accelerated in recent weeks in the countryside, as well as inland regions and areas where the virus was late arriving, particularly the country’s south and center-west.
In southeastern states such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, hardest-hit by the virus in absolute numbers, the situation has stabilized, while the virus’ presence has declined in northern regions after reaching catastrophic levels in April and May.
At Copacabana beach in Rio, activists from nongovernment organization Rio de Paz released 1,000 red balloons on Saturday while standing between 100 black crosses stuck in the sand, in a tribute to Brazilians who have died of coronavirus.
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s leftist nemesis, on Twitter denounced “the arrogance of a president who has chosen to describe this cruel virus as a little flu, defying science and even death, and who bears in his soul the responsibility for all the lives lost.”
The contagion has cast a harsh light on Brazil’s inequalities, with the virus wreaking particular havoc on the country’s favelas and hitting black populations especially hard.
The country’s indigenous Amazon populations have also been hard hit, with one of Brazil’s leading chiefs, 71- year- old Aritana
Yawalapiti, dying Wednesday of respiratory complications caused by Covid-19.
Bolsonaro’s government, which has been criticized for managing the epidemic in a chaotic fashion, is on its third health minister since the virus reached the country.
The right- wing leader, who tested positive for the virus last month but has since recovered, said Thursday he had “a clear conscience” and had done “everything possible to save lives.”
Bolsonaro also called the governors of states that took containment measures which he opposed for economic reasons “dictators.”
Brazil resumed its national football championship on Saturday, three months behind schedule.