'The pile of dead bodies isn't showing up,' says Weintraub, downplaying the 1,9 deaths from coronavirus.
"The pile of dead bodies they said would appear isn't showing up," said Education Minister Abraham Weintraub, speaking about the new coronavirus pandemic. He also tried to justify attacks against China using racist terms.
247 - In an interview with radio Guaíba, this Thursday (1), the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, downplayed the new coronavirus pandemic and tried to justify his attacks against China.
"You can fool a few people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. The truth is coming out: hydroxychloroquine works, was this quarantine premature? The pile of dead bodies they said would appear isn't showing up," he said, affirming that he will maintain the date of the ENEM (National High School Exam). Weintraub said that "the quarantine was premature."
"The ENEM exam is in November, it's only in November. Are you telling me that the epidemic will continue until November and nobody will be able to leave their homes anymore? And what happens then? Five million young people who take the university entrance exam will be left without prospects?", he questioned.
Regarding the request from the Attorney General's Office to open an investigation into the crime of prejudice for his attacks against China, he used racist terms to deny the crime.
"You can see my color, my color is dark. I'm a mutt, a poor dog. I'm not racist, my life story shows that I'm not racist. Do I have many friends? I don't have 'black' friends or Chinese friends, I have friends. They can be any color," he said.
On his Twitter page, on the 4th, Weintraub posted the cover of an edition of the Monica's Gang comic book set in China and used the typical speech pattern of the character Cebolinha, who replaces the R with L, to ridicule the way Asian immigrants speak Portuguese. Weintraub also insinuated that China would benefit from the coronavirus pandemic.
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COVID-19 cases in Brazil surpass 30 and deaths reach 1.924.
The Ministry of Health announced on its website this Thursday (16) that confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Brazil reached 30.425, with 1.924 deaths.
According to data from the ministry's official website on the disease, 188 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, the death toll was 1.736.
Regarding cases, the increase was 2.105. On Wednesday (15), the number of confirmed cases was 28.320.
The case fatality rate — which compares confirmed cases in the country with the incidence of deaths — is 6,3%.
The state of São Paulo remains the hardest hit by the epidemic, with 11.568 cases and 853 deaths.
Next on the list are Rio de Janeiro, with 3.944 cases and 300 deaths; Ceará, with 2.386 cases and 124 deaths; Amazonas, with 1.719 cases and 124 deaths; and Pernambuco, with 1.683 cases and 160 deaths.
Southeast concentrates 56,6% of cases
All 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District have registered cases and at least one death caused by COVID-19.
The most affected region is the Southeast, with 17.224 cases, representing 56,6% of the total. Next are the Northeast, with 6.508 cases (21,4%), the North, with 2.876 cases (9,5%), the South, with 2.496 cases (8,2%), and the Central-West, with 1.321 cases (4,3%).
Worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University virtual map, as of Thursday afternoon, there were 2.113.226 recorded cases and 140.371 deaths.