Bolsonaro Slams Shutdown Measures Amid COVID-19, Brazil President Says ‘Isolation Kills’

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed that restrictions imposed by states and municipalities to curb the spread of COVID-19 have hurt the domestic economy.

“You have to think about the economy,” Bolsonaro said Saturday in a video posted on his Facebook page. “It’s no use talking about life, life and life because isolation kills."

Speaking outside his presidential palace, Bolsonaro, who announced Wednesday he had tested positive for COVID-19, said jobless people will die of hunger. He noted that local politicians have slowed the economy by implementing forced curfews.

The comments come amid economic turmoil, as Brazil’s economy is expected to contract 6.4% this year. A top Brazil economist on Thursday expressed doubts about the country's economic outlook and forecasted growing unemployment.

Prior to the pandemic, the far-right Bolsonaro had instituted economic reforms, including an overhaul of Brazil's pension system.

Brazil has been particularly hit hard by the pandemic. South America's most populated nation has the second-highest number of cases in the world, with over 2 million infections and nearly 79,000 deaths from the virus as of Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The outbreak has devastated the country’s low-income favela communities, with Afro-Brazilians also disproportionately impacted by the virus. In addition, Brazil’s indigenous people are dying at an alarming rate from COVID-19.

Bolsonaro has previously downplayed the virus, calling it the “little flu.” He has pushed the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the disease and claims to be taking the drug. In May, Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned after just one month on the job due to disagreements with Bolsonaro about hydroxychloroquine.