Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to disregard advice from health experts and launches a campaign that undermines stringent corona measures taken by Brazilian regional governments.
With #BrazilCannotStop, Bolsonaro wants to get his country moving again, for example after the closure of millions of cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Bolsonaro believes that “unnecessarily stringent corona measures”, such as the obligation to keep a distance, must disappear because they destroy the economy.
Part of the campaign is a million-dollar television commercial, in which the Brazilian government shows full streets and shops. “The country cannot stop for local shops, employees and millions of Brazilians,” the message is.
Bolsonaro has made it clear several times that he sees the coronavirus as “a small flu”. He fiercely opposed the lockdowns of major metropolises, wants to keep schools open “because the virus is only dangerous to the elderly” and calls on mayors and officials across the country to reverse corona measures. “We have to go back to reality.”
In the country, the number of corona infections nearly doubled this week, from 1,891 to 3,417. So far, almost a hundred Brazilians have been killed. The majority of the inhabitants seem to support the measures taken by the regional governments: Bolsonaro’s popularity is decreasing in polls.
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