Brazil health minister quits, deepening Brazil coronavirus crisis

[rooster59]

Brazil health minister quits, deepening Brazil coronavirus crisis

By Lisandra Paraguassu

 

Brazil's Health Minister Nelson Teich attends a news conference, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil May 15, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

 

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil lost its second health minister in a month on Friday after President Jair Bolsonaro demanded an endorsement of risky anti-malarial drugs to fight the coronavirus outbreak, adding to turmoil in one of the pandemic's worst global hotspots.

 

Brazilians in major cities banged pots from windows and health experts reacted with outrage at the resignation of Nelson Teich, coming soon after Brazil passed Germany and France in confirmed cases, with deaths accelerating past 800 per day.

 

Bolsonaro had demanded on Thursday that Teich issue federal guidelines for the early use of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients, even though its effectiveness is unproven and there are concerns that it could cause heart problems.

 

"I was elected to make decisions. And the decision about chloroquine goes through me," Bolsonaro told business leaders in a video conference on Thursday, adding that his call to end state orders on social distancing should be the last word.

 

"Just like a commander in battle: he has to decide. Are people going to die? Unfortunately, people are going to die."

 

Teich gave no reason for quitting in brief comments to journalists on Friday. He had shown himself to be out of step with Bolsonaro's push to reopen the economy, expressing surprise at a news conference on Monday when he learned of a presidential decree allowing gyms, beauty parlors and hairdressers to open.

 

Military members of the Brazilian cabinet are pushing for deputy health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an active-duty army general, to take over the ministry, making permanent his interim role, a government source told Reuters.

 

The presidential press office did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Teich quit a day after Brazil reported a record number of new coronavirus cases. The health crisis is overwhelming public hospitals in several cities, with cemeteries digging collective graves to bury the dead.

 

Teich replaced Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired on April 16 for resisting Bolsonaro's pressure to promote hydroxychloroquine and fight state governments' isolation orders.

 

"Let us pray," former minister Mandetta said on Twitter after Teich's resignation, calling for faith in science and support for Brazil's public health system.

 

Opposition and allied politicians criticized Bolsonaro's intransigence on Friday. Lawmaker Marcelo Ramos of the centrist Liberal Party said the president would only accept a minister without regard for science-based public health policy.

 

Congressional opposition leader Alessandro Molon warned that Brazil was heading toward a public health catastrophe and said the president should be impeached.

 

"Bolsonaro does not want a technical minister, he wants someone who agrees with his ideological insanity, like ending social distancing and using chloroquine," Molon, a lawmaker from the Brazilian Socialist Party, said in a statement.

 

Bolsonaro's handling of the coronavirus has been widely criticized globally as he has shrugged off the severity of the disease and told Brazilians to ignore quarantine restrictions.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month cautioned against the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, which President Donald Trump, another world leader who has played down the pandemic's dangers, at one point touted as a "game changer."

 

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes, Franklin Paul, Dan Grebler and Sonya Hepinstall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-16

 

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[pagan1]

Brazil - A rich country but a poor Nation

[jollyhangmon]

 

Actually no surprise here, with their glorious Fuehrer being just another clueless populist failing biggly in this crisis ... as been said before, you can't bullschit a virus ... 

 

[puipuitom]

4 hours ago, jollyhangmon said:

 

Actually no surprise here, with their glorious Fuehrer being just another clueless populist failing biggly in this crisis ... as been said before, you can't bullschit a virus ... 

 

Boris learnt it the hard way, the Nobelprice -in-spé winner viriology, with a side job being president of the USA, also called the Belach injection specialist, will learn after 200.000 casualties in his country...

[winslowsjardine]

There's a saying popular amongst Brazilians:

"Brazil is the country of the future and always will be."

[Yinn]

The countrys with leaders deny covid before ,now have the biggest covid problems. 

 

 

Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro has largely struggled to take it seriously. Going against his own health ministry's advice earlier in March, and while awaiting the results of a second coronavirus test, he left self-isolation to join rallies against Congress. 

He shook hands with supporters in Brasilia and sent a message to millions that this was not something to worry about.

 

link 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52080830

 

Sweden

https://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-coronavirus-per-capita-death-rate-among-highest-2020-5

 

Belarus

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-belarus-europe-alexander-lukashenko-denial-a9495846.html

 

 

 

USA

 

 

 

UK

 

 

Prayut also deny in Febuary. But thai people push him a lot. Lucky 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

Brazil is a good example to see how much politics and interests are playing

part in the numbers of this coronavirus situation.

The numbers of deaths and new infections in brazil are not stable and changing in

accordance with the will to fail bolsonaro.

By the way, Brazil is a good place to get a clue about Thailand's true numbers. One of

the worst hit places is the amazonas and the north east, which had same climate as Thailand.

Still the numbers are not so bad, much less than cold europe, and now is propably the pick time.

 

Note the cheap media manipulation in the link below: The headline say that brazil

is now no. 4 in deaths no. - around 15,000 people. but it fails to mention that this is

the TOTAL number and not the relative no. in relative numbers brazil has 60 deaths per

one million, much lower than u.k., sweden, and of course U.S.

 

https://brazilian.report/coronavirus-brazil-live-blog/

[winslowsjardine]

24 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

Note the cheap media manipulation in the link below: The headline say that brazil

is now no. 4 in deaths no. - around 15,000 people. but it fails to mention that this is

the TOTAL number and not the relative no. in relative numbers brazil has 60 deaths per

one million, much lower than u.k., sweden, and of course U.S.

 

https://brazilian.report/coronavirus-brazil-live-blog/

Brazil likely has 12 times more coronavirus cases than official count, study finds

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-cases/brazil-likely-has-12-times-more-coronavirus-cases-than-official-count-study-finds-idUSKCN21V1X1

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

Brazil is a good example to see how much politics and interests are playing

part in the numbers of this coronavirus situation.

The numbers of deaths and new infections in brazil are not stable and changing in

accordance with the will to fail bolsonaro.

By the way, Brazil is a good place to get a clue about Thailand's true numbers. One of

the worst hit places is the amazonas and the north east, which had same climate as Thailand.

Still the numbers are not so bad, much less than cold europe, and now is propably the pick time.

 

Note the cheap media manipulation in the link below: The headline say that brazil

is now no. 4 in deaths no. - around 15,000 people. but it fails to mention that this is

the TOTAL number and not the relative no. in relative numbers brazil has 60 deaths per

one million, much lower than u.k., sweden, and of course U.S.

 

https://brazilian.report/coronavirus-brazil-live-blog/

So you're saying the absolute number of deaths is irrelevant, or should not be mentioned?

 

And no, Brazil is not a good place to get an idea about Thailand's numbers. First you say Brazil's numbers are unreliable but still want to compare them; in certain places the climates are comparable, in other places they are not and climate is just one of the probable factors; and the policies to prevent a spread have been totally different in both countries, as has the timeline.

Edited May 17, 2020 by stevenl

[Stargeezr]

Brazil has a Donald Trump as well?

Geezer

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, Yinn said:

The countrys with leaders deny covid before ,now have the biggest covid problems. 

 

 

Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro has largely struggled to take it seriously. Going against his own health ministry's advice earlier in March, and while awaiting the results of a second coronavirus test, he left self-isolation to join rallies against Congress. 

He shook hands with supporters in Brasilia and sent a message to millions that this was not something to worry about.

 

link 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52080830

 

Sweden

https://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-coronavirus-per-capita-death-rate-among-highest-2020-5

 

Belarus

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-belarus-europe-alexander-lukashenko-denial-a9495846.html

 

 

 

USA

 

 

 

UK

 

 

Prayut also deny in Febuary. But thai people push him a lot. Lucky 

While some of the countries you list have downplayed covid-19, I haven't read of political leaders in Sweden doing so.

 

They have taken a different route to combating it.

 

Don't think they have denied it's dangers though.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Bluespunk
missing word 'they'

[bendejo]

1 hour ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Brazil has a Donald Trump as well?

Geezer

It's amazing, it's like he reads from the same exact script as DT nearly every day.

Maybe Steve Bannon cc's him.