Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasília on June 17, 2020. - Fotoarena / Sipa USA / SIPA

The Brazilian president obviously has nothing to do with barrier gestures ... Jair Bolsonaro, infected with the coronavirus, went for a ride Thursday on a motorcycle and spoke without a mask with sweepers near his residence in Brasilia, according to photos disseminated in the media.

These pictures caused an uproar. Jair Bolsonaro, 65, announced on July 7 that he had contracted Covid-19 and said on Wednesday that according to a new test he was still positive.

Meu amigo @jairbolsonaro segue se arriscando pelo Brasil. Por poco que o gari não recolhe ele hoje. pic.twitter.com/VuMO8vNiOn

- Véio da Van (@veiodavan) July 24, 2020

In one of the photos, the president also appears helmeted, but the visor of his helmet is raised and he greets at a certain distance two sweepers on the outskirts of Alvorada Palace, his official residence in Brasilia, where he has been confined since the diagnosis of contamination has been made.

"A little stressed to be locked up"

Asked about this episode, the communications secretariat of Planalto, the Brazilian presidency, replied “Planalto will not comment”. In a message he posted on Facebook on Thursday, Jair Bolsonaro said he feels “very good” but is “a little stressed to be locked up”.

Jair Bolsonaro, a former far-right military man, has often downplayed the severity of the pandemic, which he has long called "the flu". He criticized the containment measures decided by the governors of Brazilian states, stressing the need not to block the national economy. "We are concerned about lives, but the side effect of this (quarantine) policy is going to kill more people than the virus," he repeated.

Nearly 84,000 deaths in Brazil

A federal parliamentarian, Marcelo Freixo, criticized the president's behavior. This motorcycle ride is "the image of Bolsonaro's monstrosity and his contempt for the lives of Brazilians," he tweeted.

As of Thursday, Brazil, which is after the United States the country most heavily affected by Covid-19, had nearly 2.3 million cases of contamination and more than 84,000 deaths.

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  • Health
  • Brazil
  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • Jair Bolsonaro