Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro frowned on the containment measures taken by authorities amid the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-9) threat, Agence France Presse reported.
“Some state and local authorities need to abandon the scorched-earth concept: blocking transport, closing businesses and confining people en masse,” he said.
“We need to preserve jobs and families’ livelihoods,” he added.
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He called the new coronavirus as “little flu” that has provoked an “overblown” reaction.
Bolsonaro issued the statement at the time the city and state of Sao Paulo, the country’s economic capital, started the implementation of a partial quarantine as part of efforts to slow down the spread of the virus.
As of posting, Brazil has 2,201 confirmed cases of COVID-19 illness and 46 deaths.
He said there was no need for extreme measures.
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“The at-risk group (for the virus) is people over 60. So why close the schools?” he said.
Bolsonaro also said, “This will be over soon. We have to get on with our lives…. We have to get back to normal.”
