This archive report was first published on 7 July 2020.
On July 6, 2020, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, 65, tested positive for COVID-19, despite his previous claims that the virus was 'a little flu.'
According to local media, Bolsonaro had been showing symptoms including a high fever and underwent an X-ray of his lungs at a military hospital as a precaution.
He also revealed that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure, a decision that has raised eyebrows given the controversy surrounding the use of the drug in treating COVID-19.
Brazil is the second-worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic, with over 65,000 deaths and at least 1.6 million cases.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the risks of the virus and flouted social distancing rules, including wearing a mask in public.
On the same day he tested positive, Bolsonaro made further changes to weaken a law that would require citizens to wear face masks in public, vetoing articles that would have required masks to be worn in prisons and businesses to provide information on how to wear masks properly.
Some states in Brazil have already made the wearing of face-coverings mandatory, but this was the first such law on a national level.
