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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. Photo: Reuters

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro tests negative for coronavirus

  • The president’s communications chief tested positive for Covid-19 after a trip to the US during which both men met with President Donald Trump
  • Meanwhile, Brazilian authorities quarantined a cruise ship after a passenger was diagnosed with a suspected case of the virus
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday he has tested negative for the coronavirus, after a scare over a trip on which at least one infected member of his staff rubbed shoulders with Donald Trump.

“The Armed Forces Hospital and [diagnostic laboratory] Sabin have returned a negative test result for Covid-19 for the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro,” said a post on the president’s Facebook page, along with a picture of him flashing an obscene arm gesture at the press.

The far-right leader’s communications chief, Fabio Wajngarten, tested positive for Covid-19 after last weekend’s trip to the US during which both men met with Trump at his Florida resort.

Wajngarten was photographed standing side-by-side with Trump.

Bolsonaro cancelled a scheduled trip on Thursday to the city of Mossoro, in northeastern Brazil, and his office said he had no other official events on his daily agenda.

Bolsonaro had previously sought to play down the coronavirus pandemic, saying its severity had been “overstated”.

Earlier on Thursday, his son Eduardo revealed on Twitter that Bolsonaro had been tested for Covid-19 but was not “exhibiting any symptoms of the disease”.

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Trump has said he was “not concerned” about contracting the virus and the White House said he did not need testing.

Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence “had almost no interactions with” Wajngarten, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump with Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago residency in Florida. Photo: Reuters

They “do not require being tested at this time”, she said, explaining that US government guidelines do not recommend testing for people without symptoms.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, who also accompanied his father to the US, said he was undergoing testing as well.

The president said another member of the Brazilian delegation had been tested with the results coming back as negative, but did not reveal who that was.

The Brazilian delegation also included Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, who cut short a subsequent trip to Washington on Thursday to return to Brazil. He would follow all current protocols on the virus, his office said.

Brazilian authorities said on Friday they had quarantined a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship with 600 people aboard after a passenger was diagnosed with a suspected case of the coronavirus.

The man, a 78-year-old Canadian resident, was taken ill as passengers were disembarking in the northeastern resort city of Recife on Thursday, developing a fever, cough and breathing trouble, the Pernambuco state health department said in a statement.

Emergency medical services took him to a local health centre, then ordered a quarantine for the others on the ship – 317 passengers and 291 crew – even though some were already ashore.

Brazil has 77 confirmed cases of new coronavirus and another 1,400 suspected cases, according to health ministry figures.
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