Jair Bolsonaro does not give in: “In Brazil, there will be no ‘Stay at home’, nor ‘Close everything'”

RIO DE JANEIRO.- The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, on Wednesday ruled out decreeing national containment, demanded by many specialists given the critical levels of the second wave of the pandemic in the country. “There will be no national lockdown” or “Stay at home” or “Close all” policy “, declared in an official act in Chapecó (south) the far-right president, who opposes social, national, regional or local isolation measures, alleging their negative economic impact.

The question came back forcefully after the prestigious Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) recommended the Containment “bitter remedy” to “prevent more deaths”. “The lockdown measures are a bitter remedy, but they are absolutely necessary in times of crisis and collapse of the health system,” said this institution, linked to the Ministry of Health, in an Extraordinary Bulletin published on Tuesday. The occupancy rate of beds in intensive care units (ICUs) is at “critical levels” in 24 of the 27 states, according to this report.

Brazil recorded 3,829 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, a day after breaking a record 4,195 deaths in just 24 hours. Second in the world after the United States, the South American country, with 212 million inhabitants, already exceeds 340,000 deaths. March was the month with the most deaths in Brazil (66,573) and in the first seven days of April, more than 19,000 were recorded.

“We are all responsible for what is happening in Brazil. In which country in the world do people not die? Unfortunately, people are dying everywhere. What we want is to reduce this problem, ”Bolsonaro said at another official ceremony in Foz do Iguazu a few hours later. “We’re not going to cry over spilled milk. We are still going through a pandemic which, in part, it is used politically not to defeat the virus, but to try to overthrow a president“He added.

While specialists insist on the need to speed up vaccination (which is encountering supply difficulties and has covered 10% of the population with the first dose), Bolsonaro has criticized what he considers an “excessive focus” of the press on vaccines. “I am sure that a remedy to cure Covid will be presented to the world soon (…) We are therefore focusing only on the vaccine, which costs between 10 and 20 dollars per unit. Do we want the vaccine? Yes, but we also want to seek the remedy for the cure and not demonize the drugs that the doctors prescribe.The president said, referring to cures without scientific evidence for the coronavirus, which he has promoted on numerous occasions.

Christovam Barcellos, researcher at Fiocruz, affirms that Brazil must “at the same time implement this containment measure [recomendada por el Boletín] Yes help people with psychological support, money, food ”to go through the“ very difficult phase ”that still awaits us.

For much of 2020, tens of millions of Brazilians survived on monthly cash games, which left the country’s finances very difficult. After suspending them for three months, the government resumed aid in April, while reducing its value and the number of recipients. Meanwhile, the level of unemployment is at an all time high, with more than 14 million people looking for work.

AFP