‘Brazil scaring world by lack of control over Covid-19’
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 15 (efe-epa).- Human rights organizations on Friday expressed concern over the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Brazil, alleging that the government was losing the control of the pandemic.
The criticism followed the resignation of Nelson Teich, the second health minister to step down in less than a month because of the disagreements with President Jair Bolsonaro.
Oxfam and Amnesty International expressed serious concerns over Teich’s resignation at a time when the novel coronavirus crisis in Brazil has worsened and entered a critical phase.
Oxfam Brazil’s executive director Katia Maia said in a statement that the country was scaring the world by the lack of control of the epidemic and the president’s contempt for the lives of its citizens.
Teich, who took charge of the health ministry on Apr.17, resigned because of differences with Bolsonaro regarding quarantines and the use of chloroquine to treat coronavirus patients.
His predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, too was at loggerheads with the president over the same issues.
For Bolsonaro, the Covid-19 is a flu that cannot be stopped even if it infects “70 percent of the population” and “kills a lot of people”.
The president continues to make efforts to get regional governments to lift restrictions so that people can go out to work again to earn their livelihood.
In Brazil, confinement measures have been rolled out by most regional authorities, while the central government has advocated the continuation of routine activities, and even decreed the opening of gymnasiums and beauty salons by putting them under essential services.
Amnesty International on Friday criticized the situation, underlining the lack of adequate measures to deal with the crisis and calling for Bolsonaro to take urgent steps in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, and held him accountable for the lives of Brazilians.
Amnesty International Brazil’s executive director Jurema Werneck said in a statement that saving lives was in the hands of the president, and it was his duty to lead the fight against the pandemic in a responsible manner.
According to the latest official figures, Brazil has recorded 218,223 cases of the coronavirus so far and 14,817 deaths. EFE-EPA
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