Brazil’s Political Elite at Risk as Virus Spreads to Senate Head
Brazil’s Top Security Official Tests Positive for Coronavirus
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s Senate president is the latest politician to test positive for coronavirus as the disease spreads among the political elite of Latin America’s largest economy.
Davi Alcolumbre, 42, was found with Covid-19 after initially testing negative for the virus, he said via Twitter. His positive diagnosis follows those of Brazil’s top security official and the mining and energy minister, a sign coronavirus is moving fast in the country’s capital and political center, Brasilia.
Unlike most government officials who tested positive until now, Alcolumbre wasn’t part of the group that accompanied President Jair Bolsonaro during a trip to the U.S. earlier this month, where he met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
General Augusto Heleno, 72, who was part of that entourage, said Wednesday morning that he would be undergoing additional testing to confirm a first positive result. Later in the day, Bolsonaro told reporters that Mining and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque, 61, also came down with the ailment. He was another member of the delegation to the U.S.
Bolsonaro and Trump have said they tested negative for the virus.
The officials who accompanied the Brazilian president on the trip had so far maintained a normal work schedule, including meetings at the presidential palace. They continued rubbing shoulders in the exclusive world of power brokers in Brasilia, a relatively small and isolated urban center in the middle of Brazil’s plains.
“I am isolated, at home, and I won’t be answering phone calls,” Heleno posted on his Twitter account, adding that he shows no symptoms of the illness.
Even as a growing number of people in his inner circle fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaro had until now adopted a relaxed stance toward the virus, personally greeting supporters over the weekend and saying he intends to throw a small party to celebrate his 65th birthday on March 21.
On Tuesday, though, he asked the Brazilian Congress to declare a state of calamity to increase anti-virus spending and, on Wednesday, appeared wearing face masks with several other cabinet members during a press conference.
Brazil has so far confirmed 428 cases of coronavirus and four related deaths.
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