Rio de Janeiro: Two Brazilian governors who criticized Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s call to relax measures to curb COVID-19 said on Tuesday they tested the new corona virus.
Rio de Janeiro governor Wilson Wiesel and northern paratrooper Helder Barbalho both posted videos on Twitter announcing their diagnosis and urging people to stay at home to fight the spread of the virus.
Witzel was the main supporter who closed non-essential companies and ordered people to stay at home, saying he began to feel unwell that the fever, sore throat and smell disappeared on Friday, which are the main symptoms of the virus.
“Today, the test result came back positive… Now, thank God, I’m feeling better, and will continue working while following my doctors’ advice,” said Witzel, 52.
“I ask you once again to stay home, because this disease, as everyone can see, spreads quickly and doesn’t spare anyone.”
Barbalho, 40, who said he was asymptomatic, made a similar appeal.
“This virus is extremely contagious, it doesn’t recognize age or class. Everyone is exposed. So please stay home,” he said.
The social alienation policy was attacked by Bolsonaro, who accused them of unnecessarily destroying Latin America’s largest economy because the far-right president compared it to a “minor flu”.
Wieser responded last month that Bolsonaro’s disregard for United Nations and World Health Organization guidelines can be considered a “crime against humanity.”
Brazil, the Latin American country most severely affected by the pandemic, has killed 1,532 people so far.
