President Bolsonaro trolls media with coronavirus scare

In a post on his official Facebook page, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed that his tests for the novel coronavirus came back negative. This was contradictory to earlier reports from local and international media, which had published that the results were in fact positive. In his post confirming his negative results, the president also published a photograph of himself making an offensive “up yours” gesture, which he has used on several occasions to insult the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian president was tested after it was confirmed that his press secretary, Fábio Wajngarten, was infected following a trip to the U.S. The visit—motivated by the signature of a military deal between Brazil and the U.S.—included meetings with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. On Thursday, Mr. Trump told White House reporters he is “not concerned” about possibly being infected himself.

The first reports of a Covid-19 positive diagnosis surfaced around 10:30 am, with Leandro Mazzini, a columnist at Rio-based daily newspaper O Dia citing “direct sources from the presidential palace.” Then, Fox News’s Chris Irvine confirmed the information—naming Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro—the president’s own son—as the source. 

Shortly after, however, Eduardo Bolsonaro took to Twitter to debunk the information, saying the test results hadn’t been concluded at that point. He added a new tweet, denying...