THE EPICENTER BRAZIL OF THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC

It is now the fourth country most affected by the pandemic with 250,511 positive cases, but above all some 14,919 new infections detected in the last 24 hours.

It officially counts 20,118 deaths, figures that scientists consider largely underestimated compared to reality.

According to the Covid-19 Brasil Center, the country could actually count between 2.5 and 3.4 million positive cases.

According to a study carried out by Imperial College London in late April in 48 countries, Brazil also has the highest contagion rate in the world, with an R0 of 2.81.

President Bolsonaro against containment

While the world is taking containment measures to save its people from the Covid-19 epidemic, President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro opposes these measures giving primacy to the economy.

Asked at the end of April that Brazil had just exceeded the figure of 5,000 dead, President Jair Bolsonaro replied: "So what? " Since the beginning of the epidemic, he has underestimated the threat and speaks of a "small flu" or a "hysteria" born of the "imagination" of the media. Economic activity must continue at all costs, says Bolsonaro, who is struggling above all to take the measure of the pandemic The head of state went to war with the governors who decided to containment when he opposed it. "Unemployment, hunger and misery will be the future of those who favor the tyranny of total isolation," he argues in a tweet.

The denial maintained by the government dissuades half of the population from confining themselves, while the calls for physical distancing launched by health professionals, governors and mayors are only moderately followed up.

Unstable government.

Because of his differences with the far-right president, the Minister of Health and doctor Luiz Henrique Mandetta was dismissed on April 17. On May 15, it was the turn of the Minister of Health, Nelson Teich, to resign, four weeks after his appointment to this crucial portfolio, for " differences of opinion". Those around him have put forward differences with the president on the treatment with chloroquine, of which Bolsonaro is a fervent defender, even if no study has yet proven its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, the contamination curve is increasing in the country of 210 million inhabitants. While the situation is already dramatic, Brazil should not experience the peak of the epidemic until June. However, several governors and mayors have already alerted to a public health system on the verge of suffocation. But during demonstrations in favor of Jair Bolsonaro, sometimes in his presence, some of his supporters called for measures of a completely different nature: a military takeover and the closure of the Parliament

In this climate of political tension, six former defense ministers urged the Armed Forces to condemn these calls for military intervention.