Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced on Wednesday the creation of a crisis committee to fight COVID-19 which is ravaging his country, in the face of criticism of his chaotic management of the health crisis for a year.
• Read also: [EN DIRECT 24 MARS] All the developments of the pandemic
“The prevailing feeling is solidarity to minimize the effects of the pandemic. Life above all, ”said the far-right leader, the day after Brazil recorded more than 3,000 deaths in 24 hours, a record.
He addressed reporters after a meeting in Brasilia with most of his ministers, the presidents of both chambers of Parliament, the Supreme Court and the governors of several states.
All participants appeared to the press wearing masks, including President Bolsonaro who has worn very little in his public appearances since the start of the pandemic.
The crisis committee, which will bring together the 27 governors, representatives of Parliament and the new Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, will meet once a week, Bolsonaro said.
“Without conflict, without politicization, this is the way to go for Brazil to get out of this complicated situation,” concluded the head of state, while the country should cross the threshold of 300,000 deaths caused by Wednesday evening. the coronavirus.
Even if the head of state now advocates national union, he has continued to criticize the restrictive measures imposed by state governors.
Critics of the government have pointed out that this initiative to coordinate nationally measures to combat the virus comes much too late, more than a year after the announcement of the first death from COVID-19 in Brazil.
“For 12 months, Bolsonaro played down the pandemic, provoked rallies, spoke out against the use of masks and sabotaged negotiations for the acquisition of vaccines,” summed up the daily Folha de S. Paulo in an editorial. .
“Cornered, Bolsonaro denies negationism”, for his part wrote the political columnist Josias de Souza on the Uol news site.
At the end of Wednesday’s meeting with representatives of the three powers, he adopted a more consensual tone, like his televised address the day before, when he wanted to “reassure the Brazilian people” by promising that the entire population would be vaccinated by the end of the year.
But vaccination, which started late, in mid-January, is still progressing slowly: 11.1 million Brazilians, or 5.2% of the population, have received at least one dose of vaccine and 3.5 million only two. doses.
Despite his change of speech on most topics related to the pandemic, Mr. Bolsonaro still insisted Wednesday on “the possibility of early treatment”, with hydroxychloriquine or other drugs deemed ineffective by scientists.