Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday downplayed the dizzying increase in Covid-19 cases with the arrival of the Omicron variant which, according to experts, could soon again overload hospitals.
“Omicron didn't kill anyone.
The person who died in Goias already had very serious problems, especially in the lungs ”, declared the head of state in an interview with the Gazeta Brasil site.
However, this patient from the state of Goias (Center-West) is the first official death in Brazil from the omicron variant, according to the municipal authorities of Aparecida de Goiania.
In his interview, Bolsonaro also again defended the controversial thesis of "collective immunity" that would confer mass contamination.
"According to some serious experts unrelated to pharmaceutical companies, the Omicron is welcome and could signal the end of the pandemic," said the Brazilian president.
Read alsoCovid-19: how the Omicron "tsunami" swept through Europe
Statements that made scientists from the World Health Organization react.
“Now is not the time to say this is a welcome virus.
No virus that kills people is welcome, ”WHO Executive Director Michael Ryan said.
According to the latest official report from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, published Tuesday evening, the country recorded 70,765 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, eight times more than two weeks ago.
The average of the last seven days is 43,660 daily contaminations, unheard of since the end of July.
In the state of Rio de Janeiro, for example, the number of daily cases has increased by 1,500% in two weeks.
Despite this, President Bolsonaro remains fiercely opposed to any restrictive measure.
