Brazil has reported 16,409 new coronavirus cases taking the total of infected cases to 514,849. It keeps the country in second place in terms of infections, behind the US on 1.78 million cases. Brazil has moved into fourth in terms of deaths, with 29,314 fatalities, according to the health ministry.
President Bolsonaro has repeatedly dismissed the severity of the virus and continued to flout social distancing measures. On Sunday he rode a horse to a rally calling for the supreme court to be shut down for investigating him.
Also, on Sunday the White House said it would send two million doses of hydroxychloroquine and 1,000 ventilators to Brazil, despite warnings over the anti-malarial drug’s safety. The White House said in a joint statement with Brazil that the drug would be used as a preventative treatment for frontline healthcare workers in Brazil, despite its known dangers.
“It will also be used as a therapeutic to treat Brazilians who become infected,” the statement said.
The countries will also carry out a joint research effort, including “randomised controlled clinical trials”.
Last week the WHO stopped hydroxychloroquine trials amid safety fears over the drug.
The WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in light of a paper published in the Lancet medical journal that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems than those who were not, it would pause the hydroxychloroquine arm of its solidarity global clinical trial.
Via Reuters
