May 15, 2020

COVID-19 Tension: Brazil’s Health Minister Resigns After Less Than One Month On The Job

By Newsroom

Nelson Teich was appointed Health Minister of Brazil on April 16th, after his predecessor Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired by the country’s President, Jair Bolsonaro. The day before his one month anniversary in office, the oncologist tendered his resignation, after butting heads with the President over his leadership in the fight against COVID-19.

Since the emergence of the virus, President Jair Bolsonaro has continuously disregarded COVID-19 as “a little flu”, making it a point tovisit supermarkets and shake hands with people. He later strongly advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat the drug- something both Health Ministers have not supported.

While he did not provide a reason for his resignation, Teich had criticised a decree issued by President Jair Bolsonaro allowing gyms and beauty parlours to reopen.

Former Minister Mandetta was fired four days after appearing on a televised interview calling for government to have a unified stance on the pandemic.

This week, Brazil passed Germany and France in COVID-19 cases, with more than 200,000 confirmed diagnoses by Thursday, when the health ministry reported 844 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 13,933.

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