RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Otávio do Rêgo Barros, 59, has contracted the novel coronavirus. The news was confirmed on Wednesday, May 6th, by Rêgo Barros’ office.
According to the cabinet, he is well and in isolation at home. The spokesperson is yet another confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in the government team.
In March, at least 23 people who traveled with Bolsonaro to the US contracted the disease, among them the Minister of Institutional Security Augusto Heleno, the Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque, and the Secretary of Communication, Fabio Wajngarten.
After the trip, and the infection of his aides, Bolsonaro performed two tests to determine whether he had been infected. The President announced on both occasions, through social media, that the results were negative, but failed to provide the test reports, as Heleno did.
Bolsonaro’s decision not to disclose the reports led the newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo” to take legal action. After the Federal Court ruled on the submission of the tests, the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3) suspended the order on Saturday, May 2nd.
Judge Monica Nobre granted an appeal from the Solicitor General of Brazil (AGU) and set a period of five days for the case to be examined and for a decision on whether or not to hand over the exams.
Last week, in an interview with a radio station in Rio Grande do Sul, Bolsonaro again stated that he may have contracted the coronavirus, reiterating what he had said in March.
“I may have caught this virus in the past, maybe, and I didn’t even feel it”, said Bolsonaro to the station. On March 20th, he said: “Here at home, the whole family tested negative. Maybe I was infected in the past and I didn’t even know about it. Maybe. And I have antibodies”.
Below is the text released by the Presidency:
PRESS RELEASE
The Spokesman for the President of the Republic, General Otávio Santana do Rêgo Barros, tested positive for Covid-19. He performed the test on Monday, May 4th, the result having been confirmed yesterday.
General Rêgo Barros is in his residence, complying with all the recommended protocols and, so far, without symptoms that warrant further concern.
Source: G1