Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has been a global outlier among major world leaders by downplaying the severity of the disease, famously referring to it as a “little flu.” While his opposition to social distancing has caused no concrete change to public policy around the country — state governors are in charge of these decisions within their own territorial lines and all have employed some form of social distancing measures — the fear among health experts is that the president’s message may encourage citizens to disobey confinement rules.
Coronavirus
Bolsonaro’s words encouraging Brazilians to ignore social isolation
While state governors control confinement rules, a study from the University of Cambridge shows President Bolsonaro's anti-isolation message is getting through to the population
