Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he’s tested negative for coronavirus

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro indicated Saturday that he has tested negative for coronavirus after contracting the disease earlier this month.

On social media the leader posted a photo saying he tested negative followed by “BOM DIA A TODOS” or “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE” in Portuguese.

– RT-PCR para Sars-Cov 2: negativo.
– BOM DIA A TODOS. pic.twitter.com/CkdV59yGXP

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) July 25, 2020

Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist with close ties to President Trump, announced that he has tested positive for the virus on July 7.

The 65-year-old announced the same week that he was taking Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, that has been touted by Trump as a treatment for COVID-19, though the medical community has largely warned against it for this purpose. 

The FDA ruled in June that it would withdraw emergency use authorization for Hydroxychloroquine, because at the time that recent data showed no difference in patients with COVID-19 who took the drug and those who did not. 

Like President Trump, Bolsonaro has not shied away from public events since the start of the pandemic and has downplayed the impact of the disease. The U.S. and Brazil have the first and second highest number of infections in the world, respectively. 

As of Friday, Brazil has reported more than 2.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 85,000 deaths because of the virus. The total makes Brazil the country with the second-largest COVID-19 case count behind the U.S.