The city of Sao Paulo fined Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro this weekend for being out in public without a mask during a public appearance at a motorcycle rally that attracted 12,000 vehicles.
The two largest cities in Brazil, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are implementing curfews and business lockdowns in the face of consecutive record-high death rates in the past several days, peaking with 1,840 deaths tied to the Chinese coronavirus on Wednesday.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the highest court in the country, ruled on Thursday that Brazilian authorities could limit the freedoms of individuals who refuse to take a vaccine against the Chinese coronavirus, but could not physically force a person to take it.
The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa), which approves pharmaceutical drugs for use, accused the government of China on Monday of being “not transparent” in its development of its primary Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidate.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spent much of the week condemning measures such as widespread lockdowns and mandatory vaccination planned against the Chinese coronavirus. He stated Wednesday morning he did not understand why countries would return to lockdowns and repeated his vow not to import Chinese vaccines the next day.
The governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Joao Doria, announced on Wednesday that the state and its eponymous city would officially extend Chinese coronavirus measures through June 15 – but restrictions on some economic activity will ease as early as June 1.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro joined a protest of hundreds of people on Sunday opposing Chinese coronavirus social distancing measures on Sunday, promising to do “everything necessary so that we can maintain … our freedom.”
