Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Reportedly Hospitalised

APD NEWS

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has reportedly been rushed to hospital, CNN Brazil reported on Wednesday.

Reuters, in turn, cited an unnamed source as saying that the president was hospitalised earlier in the day at an army hospital in the capital Brasilia.

According to the local news outlet Globo, the president was admitted to the hospital for unspecified medical testing after he felt abdominal pains in the early hours of Wednesday.

Since Bolsonaro was stabbed and seriously injured in the intestines during the 2018 presidential campaign, his health has been an issue.

The developments follow left-wing and centrist parties in Brazil submitting a "super petition" to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, to impeach Bolsonaro in late June.

The president faces at least 23 charges, including one pertaining to the purchase of the Covaxin vaccine against the coronavirus and allegations of relevant misconduct.

Bolsonaro faces consistent criticism of his policies, especially those related to his administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has repeatedly been accused of downplaying the risks of the pandemic, even defying coronavirus restrictions. Even though he himself contracted the virus last summer, he has consistently expressed scepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and only recently changed his position, given that Brazil has been among the world's leaders in terms of cumulative infections.

(SPUTNIK)