Brazil’s president says he tested negative for coronavirus

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who met with President Trump last week, announced Friday he has tested negative for coronavirus, despite earlier reports that he tested positive.

Bolsonaro made the announcement on Facebook and Twitter.

Fox News and Brazilian news outlet Jornal O Dia reported earlier on Friday that Bolsonaro had tested positive for COVID-19 but that further testing would take place.

Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who was cited by Fox News as confirming the initial test results, later disputed reports his father had contracted the virus.

“There are always those people who tell lies in the media and if the story is confirmed they say ‘I told you!’, if not there will be just 1 more fake news,” he tweeted.

(ENG)Too much lies and little information. Coronavirus exam done with the team that were with JB in USA have not yet been completed

There are always those people who tell lies in the media and if the story is confirmed they say “I told you!”, if not will be just 1 more fake news

— Eduardo Bolsonaro (@BolsonaroSP) March 13, 2020

Jair Bolsonaro met with Trump last week in Mar-a-Lago. Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, who accompanied him on the trip, later tested positive for the virus.

Felipe G. Martins, an aide to Jair Bolsonaro, also said Friday that the test results for Brazil’s president had not yet been reported.

“The news that the President tested positive for covid-19 is false. The tests carried out on the material collected yesterday are still being carried out and no member of the delegation had access to the results. The process takes about 6 hours and only started this morning,” Martins tweeted.

A notícia de que o Presidente testou positivo p/ o covid-19 é falsa. Os testes realizados a partir do material coletado ontem ainda estão sendo realizados e nenhum membro da delegação teve acesso aos resultados. O processo leva cerca de 6 horas e só teve início na manhã de hoje.

— Filipe G. Martins (@filgmartin) March 13, 2020

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which recently hosted this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where an attendee was later found to have the coronavirus, also disputed the initial reports. Eduardo Bolsonaro attended CPAC, though it’s unclear if he had direct contact with the patient, as Schlapp and some lawmakers did.

Just talked to Eduardo Bolsonaro the son of President Bolsonaro and our @CPAC partner. His father has no test results yet. Don’t jump the gun. Be patient. Good news is Eduardo is healthy!

— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) March 13, 2020