SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s science and technology minister, Marcos Pontes, said on Thursday that he had tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the fifth minister in President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to be diagnosed with the virus.
Pontes made his announcement on Facebook, saying he was quarantining and working remotely.
“I just tested positive for the new coronavirus,” he said. “I’m well, just a bit of flu symptoms and a headache.”
Bolsonaro also tested positive for the coronavirus but said last weekend that his latest test had come back negative after weeks quarantined in his residence.
Brazil has the world’s second-worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, behind the United States. Brazil set daily records on Wednesday for new COVID-19 cases and related fatalities. The 69,074 new confirmed cases and 1,595 additional deaths, reported by the Health Ministry, pushed the country past 2.5 million infections and 90,000 killed.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
