Ex-Minister Mandetta Laments 50,000 Deaths, Calls for Unity, Adding “Governments Change Too”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Former Health Minister Henrique Mandetta lamented the 50,000 lives lost in Brazil as a result of the novel coronavirus, reached on Saturday evening, June 20th, and asked Brazilians to unite in the fight against the disease.

“Fifty thousand lives lost: my respects to the victims. My former patient called Brazil, I pray for you. I so wanted not to reach this mark. Let’s fight. Focus. Discipline. Science. SUS. Let’s stick together. Governments change, too. Let’s pray,” Mandetta wrote on his Twitter.

Mandetta was appointed Minister of Health at the outset of Bolsonaro’s administration. With the coronavirus pandemic, the measures taken by the Minister began to upset the President and he was eventually dismissed in April this year.

On Saturday, Brazil passed the 50,000 death mark from the novel coronavirus, with 968 deaths and 30,972 confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has accumulated a total of 50,058 deaths and 1,070,139 infections. The figures are based on a survey by a media outlet consortium using data from state health secretariats.

The Ministry of Health announced late Sunday that the country reached 49,976 deaths and 1,067,579 confirmed cases – there were 1,022 deaths recorded between Saturday and Sunday, in addition to 34,666 new infections.

Source: UOL