A first coronavirus death was announced Tuesday in Brazil, as well as a mobilization of major cities criticized by President Jair Bolsonaro as falling under “a certain hysteria” detrimental to the economy.
The first Brazilian victim is a 62-year-old man who died Monday in a hospital in Sao Paulo, the country’s most populous city and main source of contamination.
Local health officials said at a press conference that he also has diabetes and high blood pressure, and that he has not traveled abroad in recent weeks.
The toll could get worse: four suspect deaths have been recorded in the same hospital and analyzes are underway to determine whether or not they were caused by Covid-19.
Brazil, a huge country of 210 million people, had 291 confirmed cases on Tuesday, according to the latest bulletin from the Ministry of Health.
Even before the announcement of this first death, the city of Sao Paulo and the state of Rio de Janeiro – the country’s second source of contamination – had declared a state of emergency, with a series of measures aimed at stemming the expanding pandemic.
“Crime against public health”
Among these measures published Tuesday in the Official Journal, significant restrictions on restaurants and public transport, which President Bolsonaro deemed too drastic.
“The economy was going well, but this virus caused hysteria. Some governors, in my opinion, even if I may be wrong, have taken measures that will harm our economy,” said the chief of the state during an interview with a local radio station in Rio, Radio Tupi.
The far-right president had already caused an uproar on Sunday by going to greet supporters who were participating in Brasilia in a demonstration to support him.
He shook hands and posed for “selfies” while holding protesters’ phones himself, despite recommendations from his own health ministry to avoid rallies.
“For the moment, the president does not seem to take the epidemic seriously,” lambasted the daily Estado de S. Paulo in an editorial published on Tuesday.
Janaina Paschoal, lawyer who played a fundamental role in the dismissal of the ex-left president Dilma Rousseff in 2016, considered Monday that Jair Bolsonaro – whom she had nevertheless supported during his election – should leave his function because he had “committed a crime against public health”.
The president however decided Tuesday evening the “partial” closing of the border with Venezuela, starting from Wednesday. “It is not a total closure, the transit of goods will continue,” he told reporters in Brasilia.
The economy of the border state of Roraima is highly dependent on its links with neighboring Venezuela (36 cases, no deaths), which has declared almost total containment since Tuesday.
Economic support plan
The spread of Covid-19 was taken very seriously by the authorities in Rio and Sao Paulo, who decided on Friday to close schools and all cultural places.
On Tuesday, the state of emergency decree imposed new restrictions, but also made it possible to give more flexibility to the public authorities to fight against the pandemic.
In Sao Paulo, mayor Bruno Covas notably decided that the municipality could requisition goods and services from businesses to fight the spread of the pandemic.
In public transport, disinfectant gel must be systematically available to users, particularly in metro or commuter train stations.
In Rio, Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer are closed to the public from Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. “Public transport should only operate at 50% of its capacity (and) only the seats should be occupied,” said Governor Wilson Witzel during an interview with TV Globo.
Restaurants must operate at 30% of their capacity and favor home delivery services or the sale of take-out meals.
In an attempt to limit the impact of the coronavirus on the economy, the government announced Monday evening a plan to support 147.3 billion reais (26 billion euros).
The plan provides in particular to anticipate the payment of social benefits to stimulate consumption and to help small businesses to avoid a wave of layoffs in a country which already has more than 12 million unemployed.
A measure greeted by a rebound of 4.85% at the close on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, the day after a plunge of nearly 14%.
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