Panic as Brazilian president coughs repeatedly while speaking to supporters

The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who was not wearing a face mask, caused a stir on Tuesday when he coughed repeatedly while speaking to his party supporters in Brasilia.

Bolsario called those in attendance ‘patriots’ and further said that they were helping to defend individual freedoms that he said are under threat by lockdowns measures which had been imposed against his will and wanted them to be stopped by the end of the week, despite experts warning the peak of the pandemic is still a long time off.

The president whose brief address was punctuated by his own coughing had described the virus, which has killed thousands around the world, as a ‘little cold’.

Nearly all Brazilian states have stay-at-home measures in place, some slated to extend until the middle of May.

READ ALSO: CORONAVIRUS: Despite increase, Ghana relaxes lockdown

The 65-year-old caused further anger yesterday by appearing at an anti-quarantine protest and savaging the lockdown in a speech to supporters which was also interrupted by his own coughing.

Despite Bolsonaro’s protests, many of Brazil’s regional governors have more or less shut down their states in recent weeks to stem the spread of COVID-19 across the country.

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