Brazil’s Bolsonaro, who met Trump last week, tests ‘POSITIVE’ for Covid-19, local report claims

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for Covid-19, a Brazilian paper is claiming citing sources in the presidential palace. All eyes are now on US President Donald Trump, who met Bolsonaro on Saturday.

UPDATE: Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he tested NEGATIVE for Covid-19 despite reports

Bolsonaro and his delegation met with Trump at the president’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. On Thursday, Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, was diagnosed with the coronavirus. 

According to Brazilian newspaper O Dia, Bolsonaro himself has now tested positive for the virus. His preliminary results came back positive on Friday, the paper claims. The report is based on sources within the Brazilian government. The paper has been described by journalist Glenn Greenwald – a critic of Bolsonaro – as “reasonably reliable.” He, however, then urged the journalists “to be cautious” in their reporting.

The news has not yet been confirmed by Bolsonaro, who announced in a Facebook address on Thursday that he had taken the test and entered voluntary self-isolation. The Brazilian leader cancelled official appointments on Friday, and was seen wearing a face mask that morning, O Dia reported.

Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, called the report “too much lies,” and said that his father’s tests have not yet been completed. “There are always those people who tell lies in the media,” he tweeted on Friday.

Bolsonaro shook hands with Trump at the Saturday meeting, meaning speculation is now mounting over whether the US president could have caught the deadly virus.

After Wajngarten’s diagnosis was revealed, Trump downplayed concerns, telling reporters he “did nothing unusual” with the Brazilian press secretary, adding that the pair had only “sat next to each other for a period of time.”

Trump said that he has “no plans” to get tested for the illness.

If the newspaper report is true, Bolsonaro is the highest-ranking political leader to test positive for Covid-19. Another contender is Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, whose wife has tested positive for the virus and who is also currently working from self-isolation. Believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in November, the virus has infected more than 139,000 people worldwide, killing just over 5,100.

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