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After the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the region, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro threatened on Friday to pull Brazil out of the WHO unless it ceases to be a "partisan political organization."
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is seen before the inauguration ceremony of a temporary field hospital, amid the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil, June 5, 2020. /Reuters
With more than 34,000 lives lost, the country is seeing the highest rate of infection now.
Brazil's Health Ministry has reported late on Thursday that confirmed cases across the country had been over 600,000 and 1,437 deaths had been registered within 24 hours.
Crosses placed over graves are pictured in Sao Francisco Xavier cemetery in Brazil. /Reuters
In an editorial running the length of newspaper Folha de S.Paulo's front page, the Brazilian daily highlighted that just 100 days had passed since Bolsonaro described the virus now "killing a Brazilian per minute" as "a little flu."
"While you were reading this, another Brazilian died from the coronavirus," the newspaper said.
When asked about Brazil's efforts to loose social distancing orders despite the increasing death rates, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said a key criteria for lifting lockdowns was slowing transmission.
"The epidemic, the outbreak, in Latin America is deeply, deeply concerning," she told a news conference in Geneva. Among six key criteria for easing quarantines, she said, "one of them is ideally having your transmission declining."
Reportedly, Bolsonaro has "repeatedly" clashed with the WHO over issues such as social distancing regulation amid the pandemic.
In the beginning of May, without citing any source, Bolsonaro made a claim on Facebook but later deleted that the organization encourages homosexuality and masturbation among young children, according to the South China Morning Post.
"This is the World Health Organization whose advice on coronavirus some people want me to follow," he wrote.
Bolsonaro's dismissal of the coronavirus risks to public health and efforts to lift state quarantines have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum in Brazil, where some accuse him of using the crisis to undermine democratic institutions.
President Donald Trump said last month that the United States would end its own relationship with the WHO, accusing it of being a "partisan political organization."
(With input from agencies)
