COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo tested positive for the virus. 

As of 13 May 2020, 188,974 cases have been confirmed in the country, causing 13,149 deaths.

Background
On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a new coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

Cases
On 17 March, Brazil's first coronavirus-related death was confirmed. At this time, there were 291 confirmed cases in the country. Three days later, State health departments reported almost a thousand confirmed cases across 23 of 26 states and also in the Federal District.

A month after the first confirmed case on February 26, the Ministry of Health reported that Brazil had 2,915 confirmed cases and 77 deaths. On 30 April, Brazil overtook China in number of confirmed cases, passing 87,000.

Government responses
The pandemic has caused a large difference of responses from federal, state and local governments. On 27 March Brazil announced a temporary ban on foreign air travelers, and most state governors have added quarantines to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Criticism of Bolsonaro's response
Despite the global impact of the virus and guidelines from the World Health Organization, President Jair Bolsonaro says that the risk caused by coronavirus has been exaggerated. State governors have disagreed, causing lockdowns measures in their own states.

On 13 March, President Jair Bolsonaro tested negative for COVID-19. The same day, the Ministry of Health issued a warning recommending Brazilians and foreigners arriving in Brazil to stay in isolation for at least 7 days.

References

Category:2020s in Brazil
Brazil