'People die every day': Jair Bolsonaro asks Brazilians to 'face up to' coronavirus
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'I knew I was going to catch it someday, as I think unfortunately nearly everyone here is going to catch it eventually. What are you afraid of? Face up to it,' Brazilian President said
The Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been underplaying the novel coronavirus since the start of it. He has always maintained that the pandemic is 'just a virus'.
Now, weeks after recovering for the coronavirus, his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, has tested positive. However, Jair Bolsonaro still feels that there is nothing to worry about and Brazilians should just "face up to it".
"I'm in the high-risk group," the 65-year-old president told journalists during a visit to the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
"I knew I was going to catch it someday, as I think unfortunately nearly everyone here is going to catch it eventually. What are you afraid of? Face up to it," he said.
"I regret the deaths. But people die every day, from lots of things. That's life," he added.
Bolsonaro, after recovering from the novel coronavirus, was seen addressing a crowd recently where he greeted the attendees by removing his face mask. The same day, the President's House officials announced that Michelle Bolsonaro has tested positive for coronvairus weeks after her husband did.
However, the Brazilian President still feels that this is 'just a flu' that can be dealt with easily. Protesting against the 'stay-at-home' campaign, he is instead pushing the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus. he also claimed to take it himself when he was infected, despite numerous studies claiming it has no benefit against COVID-19.
On Friday he also reported that he has been again feeling low and is on medication for "moldy lungs" which have been apparently caused due to his inactivity during his quarantine — when he was spotted feeding, and being attacked by, birds and was also seen riding motorcycles.