FACTBOX-Brazil's Bolsonaro, now COVID-19 positive, has downplayed risks

You see a guy jumping in a sewer and nothing happens to him." March 29, touring streets outside Brasilia without a mask: "This is the reality: The virus is there.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly minimized the gravity of the coronavirus and resisted measures to mitigate its spread, has tested positive for COVID-19. As of Monday, Brazil had registered 1,623,284 total coronavirus cases and 65,487 deaths attributable to the virus. Following are some of Bolsonaro's comments on the disease.

March 9, speaking to Brazilians in Miami: "The coronavirus question, to my mind, has been exaggerated, the destructive power of that virus."

March 24, in a televised address to the nation: "With my history as an athlete, if I were infected by the virus I would not have to worry. I would feel nothing or, at most, it would be a little flu or a little cold."

March 26, to reporters: "It won't get that bad (compared to the United States). Brazilians should be studied, they don't catch anything. You see a guy jumping in a sewer and nothing happens to him."

March 29, touring streets outside Brasilia without a mask: "This is the reality: The virus is there. We have to face it, but face it like a man, damn it, not like a kid. We'll confront the virus with reality. That's life. We're all going to die one day."

April 12, addressing religious leaders via videoconference: "It seems the matter of the virus is starting to go away."

April 20, asked by a journalist about the latest death toll: "Look man, I'm not a gravedigger."

April 28, asked by journalists about the rising death toll: "So what? I'm sorry, but what do you want me to do?"

 

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