RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil on Thursday recorded a record 100,158 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said, highlighting the scale of a snowball outbreak that is becoming a major political crisis. for President Jair Bolsonaro.
The record number of cases, along with 2,777 more deaths from COVID-19, comes a day after Brazil surpassed 300,000 deaths in the pandemic, the worst number of deaths in the world after the United States.
The outbreak in Brazil broke weekly records due to the launch of an irregular vaccine, the lack of national coordination and a new infectious variant. Critics, including senior lawmakers linked to the president, are increasingly blaming Bolsonaro for his way of dealing with the pandemic. He received strong criticism for his efforts to block blockages, disdainful masks and sow doubts about vaccines.
Bolsonaro also faces growing requests to replace Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo due to flaws in the country’s COVID-19 response. Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco said on Thursday that Brazil’s foreign policy should improve, adding that it is up to Bolsonaro to decide whether to replace Araújo.
An ideological ally close to the president, Araujo has faced criticism for his barbs against China’s vaccine superpower and struggles to secure doses of the American stock.
Sources close to the president told Reuters that Bolsonaro prefers not to lose Araujo, an outspoken fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump who has struggled to make progress with the new president Joe Biden’s White House. But the sources, who requested anonymity, said that Araújo did not have a solid basis. One said the president is likely to abandon Araújo.
Bolsonaro, who questioned the “rush” to buy vaccines last year, promised to speed up the country’s inoculation campaign, targeting 1 million daily doses, compared with about 350,000 a day last week.
On Thursday, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes suggested that the private sector could help speed up immunizations by purchasing supplies and donating to the government. It was unclear whether the idea was viable in such a tight global market for vaccines.
Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Written by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Brad Haynes and Leslie Adler