As bodies continue piling up, Jair Bolsonaro shrugs at the number of Covid-19 deaths. The decreasing expectations for Brazil’s agribusiness sector. And a racist tweet by a cabinet member becomes a criminal investigation.
Brazilian Covid-19 deaths surpass China’s. Bolsonaro says “so what?”
After reporting a further 474 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, Brazil reached 5,017 total casualties related to the pandemic, surpassing China’s official death toll. However, there is reason to doubt both of these figures: authoritarian regimes such as China’s tend to be opaque when it comes to alarming data, while Brazil’s actual Covid-19 death count is likely to be much greater than official numbers, due to a lack of testing.
Dismissive. Health Minister Nelson Teich chose not to comment on the numbers. Meanwhile, President Jair Bolsonaro did, but in the least considerate way possible: “So what? I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?” he said on Tuesday evening, in front of the presidential palace. After realizing his words were being broadcast live, Mr. Bolsonaro changed his tone and expressed solidarity with the families of the Covid-19 victims.
Why it matters. While several countries have been able to flatten the curve of Covid-19 deaths, Brazil sees its number...