Brazil has passed the 100,000 death mark from COVID-19, but President Jair Bolsonaro contented himself with posting a tweet highlighting those who have recovered and celebrating a victory for his favorite football team.
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While messages of solidarity with bereaved families and criticism against the government have rocketed on social networks, the head of state has not commented on this sadly symbolic figure.
He just shared a tweet from the Presidency’s Communication Secretariat on Saturday evening, on which we can read: “we regret all the deaths of Covid-19 as well as those of other diseases”.
The tweet is illustrated with a table evoking “3 million lives saved or (patients) in recovery”. An allusion to the 2,094,293 people cured of Covid-19 and the 817,642 currently monitored by the health services, according to government figures, but without any mention of the 100,000 death threshold exceeded on Saturday.
The table also cites “one of the lowest death rates per million inhabitants among major nations.” Brazil deplores 478 deaths per million inhabitants, a figure equivalent to that of the United States (487), but lower than that of Spain (609) or Italy (583).
On Saturday evening, Jair Bolsonaro also posted on Facebook a message of congratulations to Palmeiras, newly crowned champion of the state of Sao Paulo, with a photo of him smiling, wearing the green jersey of his favorite team.
Unlike the executive, the main institutions of legislative and judicial power, Congress and the Supreme Court, have announced official mourning in tribute to the 100,000 Brazilians struck down by the virus.
“We do not arrive at this figure by chance. It was built on a daily basis, by errors and omissions of a government that abandoned science in favor of obscurantism, ”criticized the newspaper O Globo in an editorial published on its site.
Ciro Gomes, third in the 2018 presidential election, was extremely vocal, calling Jair Bolsonaro “genocidal” on Twitter.
“Brazil in mourning. A genocide caused by a government of incompetent and irresponsible, ”tweeted this representative of the Democratic Labor Party (center-left).
Himself contaminated by the coronavirus last month, Jair Bolsonaro, 65, has continued to minimize the disease he describes as a “little flu”, criticizing the containment measures taken by the governors of Brazilian states.
“We have a clear conscience. With the means at our disposal, we can say that we have done everything possible to save lives, ”the far-right leader said Thursday.