What happens if Jair Bolsonaro becomes infected with coronavirus?

What Bolsonaro said about his state of health 3:18

(CNN Spanish) - The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, awaits the results of the coronavirus test on Tuesday. Bolsonaro told supporters gathered outside the presidential palace in Brasilia on Monday that he underwent a covid-19 exam and that his lungs were examined.

MIRA: Bolsonaro undergoes coronavirus test: this Tuesday the result would be known

"I came back from the hospital now, I had a lung exam, my lung is clean, okay? I went to do a covid test a little while ago, but everything is fine, ”he said.

Bolsonaro, who was wearing a face mask, warned people not to approach him.

“You can't get too close [to me], okay? Recommendation for everyone, "said Bolsonaro.

When asked about news reports that Bolsonaro has a fever, Cintia Macedo, a presidential spokesperson, told CNN: “We don't have this information. We do not confirm this information at this time. "

The Brazilian President has endangered his health: he has attended demonstrations called in his support and against the isolation measures dictated by regional politicians, despite the fact that they brought crowds of people; He has participated in collective prayers, he has embraced followers and even rejected the distant elbow salute offered by other politicians or members of the Army.

In other words, it has challenged the guidelines of the health authorities to prevent covid-19. More if we take into account his age, 65 years, which places him in the risk group, according to the World Health Organization.

What would happen if the president was infected with coronavirus, as it has happened with other leaders inside and outside the country?

To begin with, it would be necessary to see if the severity of the disease would prevent him from doing his job normally.

For Michael Mohallen, professor of Public Law at the Fundação Getulio Vargas: “The Brazilian Constitution does not define objective criteria for a temporary withdrawal of the president. It only explains that the vice president would assume the position while the incapacity of the first president lasts. The criterion that has been used in Brazil is that the president himself defines this moment, of course, the limit of consciousness. "

This happened in January and September of last year when Bolsonaro underwent several surgeries for problems derived from the attack he suffered during the electoral campaign, in September 2018. The Vice President of Brazil, retired General Hamilton Mourão, exercised for a limited time the Presidency of the country.

Several collaborators of Jair Bolsonaro have passed through the covid-19. In early March, the head of state and a delegation of ministers and collaborators traveled on an official visit to the United States. On the return it was learned that several of them had contracted the disease.

All those who were part of the entourage underwent the pertinent exams, including the president of Brazil himself, who confirmed the negative result of the test, although he refused several times to deliver the original document until justice forced him to do so. two months later. At the request of a journalist, he jokingly replied at the end of the press conference: "After the stab, there is not going to be a little flu to knock me down." He was referring to the attack he suffered in September 2018 and which, according to his son, involved three organs, including one lung.

In a statement on national television, made in March, Bolsonaro stated that 90% of the population would not manifest the virus if they contracted it. "In my particular case, because of my history as an athlete, in case of being infected by the virus, I would not have to worry, I would not feel anything or at most a little flu, a little cold."

Dr. Elmer Huerta, a Public Health specialist and CNN en Español collaborator, explains the possibilities that Bolsonaro would face.

Trauma to his lung would not necessarily be aggravating if he contracted coronavirus. What is known, so far, is that it is chronic lung conditions that would complicate the symptoms. " Huerta highlights that the age of the president does put him in the risk group.

Bolsonaro, like any patient, has three options if he becomes infected with covid-19, explains Dr. Huerta. a) That falls in 80% of asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic (who present some symptoms) b) that is 15% that presents more intense symptoms or c) That is 5% of patients who are complicated.

"It is a Russian roulette," he adds.

Getting coronavirus, then, does not necessarily mean that the President of Brazil, or any other leader, had to stop fulfilling his duties, would depend on the intensity of the symptoms.

And would Bolsonaro's past as an athlete play in his favor? "False. We know of many people who were an athlete or are an athlete and who will present many symptoms, "says Huerta and mentions the case of Broadway actor Nick Cordero" fit, with a good weight, an athletic person, "who had his amputee amputated. right leg after complications with coronavirus and later died.

LOOK: Broadway actor Nick Cordero dies after battling covid-19 for months, confirms his wife

Other infected leaders

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in the intensive care unit, after testing positive for coronavirus in March this year.

"Things could have turned out anyway," Johnson said when he thanked those who saved his life at the hospital.

The 55-year-old prime minister initially said he had "mild symptoms" and was to continue to lead the country in isolation. Ten days later he was hospitalized.

MIRA: Brazil exceeds the maximum record of deaths from coronavirus in a 24-hour period

Before entering intensive care, when his symptoms worsened, he asked his foreign secretary and first secretary of state, Dominic Raab, to replace him "where necessary." As in Brazil, in the British legal system and in the Cabinet Manual there is nothing that clearly establishes the rules for running the government, or who should take over if Johnson cannot lead the country, experts told Reuters at the time. so.

In Spain, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim Torra, tested positive for coronavirus, as announced on March 16. Torra continued his work in confinement and returned to his office on April 1 after finally testing negative.

#President @QuimTorraiPla: "I have fetched the # COVID19 test that has been passed on from malaltia. The parlos des la Casa dels Canonges on ahir em vaig instal·lar preventivament"

- Govern. Generalitat (@govern) March 16, 2020

On the other hand, the Vice President of the Spanish Government, Carmen Calvo, who became infected with coronavirus, as reported by the Government of Spain on March 25, had to be hospitalized for a respiratory condition and returned to work on April 14.

"What do you want me to do?"

"So what, I'm sorry, but what do you want me to do?" The Brazilian president responded to journalists when questioned, in late April, by the increase in the number of deaths from covid-19 in the country. "I am Messiah, but I do not perform miracles," he added, referring to his middle name (his name is Jair Mesías Bolsonaro).

It was in Sao Paulo where the first case of coronavirus was registered in Brazil, on February 26. Currently, Brazil is the third country in the world with the most cases.

At all times, Jair Bolsonaro has minimized the severity of the disease, emphasizing the economic problems caused by the application of social isolation and quarantine measures applied by the governors and mayors of many states and municipalities in the country.

MIRA: Brazil registers its worst number of daily deaths from coronavirus and is already the third country with the most cases in the world

The Brazilian president admits that people will die from the covid-19, but affirms that his function is to dictate measures against unemployment, and the main one among them is that the country returns to economic normality as soon as possible. "The people must return to work," he said at all times.

He believes that the disease must stop being seen with which - he affirms - it is hysteria created by the media and that the free market economic measures proposed by his government should be executed as soon as possible.

With information from CNN's Luke McGee and CNN's Spanish Paula Bravo.