“Hell unleashed”: the WHO warning for the health crisis in Brazil

SAN PABLO.- The Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, criticized an ongoing Senate inquiry into its handling of the record coronavirus epidemic on Friday, that according to officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) is “hell unleashed”.

Supreme Court Judge Luis Roberto Barroso decided on Thursday that a sufficient number of senators had accepted a research proposal on the government’s response to the pandemic, and that investigations could be opened.

Barroso determined that the Senate “will investigate the actions or omissions of the federal government in the face of the pandemic, particularly with regard to the worsening health crisis in the Amazon due to the lack of oxygen”.

The magistrate maintained that it is “urgent to inquire about the facts which could have worsened the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”. In this way, it gave rise to a demand from the opposition not to block the creation of the commission proposed more than a month ago.

“It is a subtlety between Barroso and the leftists in the Senate to bring the government down,” Bolsonaro told supporters outside his residence, and accused the court judge of “politicking”.

Consequences

The probe represents the most serious political consequence to date of Bolsonaro’s approach to the coronavirus, which he has compared to a “little flu”, ignoring health experts who have called for the use of masks and maintaining social distance.

Bolsonaro has reconsidered his criticism of the Covid-19 vaccines, but continues to attack governors who attempt even softer lockdowns and measures, accusing them without evidence of killing more people with these restrictions than the virus itself .

The coronavirus has killed more than 345,000 in Brazil, just behind the United States. One in four deaths from the pandemic this week has been in Brazil, where a brutal wave is overwhelming hospitals with records of more than 4,000 deaths per day.

“What is happening is that with this epidemic all hell has broken loose,” senior adviser to WHO director general Bruce Aylward said of the situation in Brazil.

However, fatigue and political pressure from Bolsonaro prompted some governors to ease restrictions despite the record number of deaths.

The state of São Paulo, whose governor has criticized the president, has announced that it will ease some restrictions next week, even as its hospitals struggle to manage the number of cases.

San Pablo officials said a drop in hospitalizations justified the decision to restart football matches without spectators, reopen businesses selling building materials and resume service in delivery in restaurants.

Reuters and ANSA agencies

THE NATION