BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s minister of Citizenship, Onyx Lorenzoni, said on Monday he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
He is the third minister infected with COVID-19 in the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who also tested positive for the disease earlier in July after coming down with a fever.
In his Twitter account, Lorenzoni said he started to feel the symptoms last Thursday and took the coronavirus test on Friday. The minister added he is being treated with a combination of drugs that includes chloroquine from which his body is showing “positive effects”.
Bolsonaro, himself a longtime advocate of the supposed virtues of the malaria drug to fight COVID-19, is also taking hydroxychloroquine and credits its use to his mild symptoms.
Brazil reported 2,098,389 confirmed cases of coronavirus by Sunday, with a total death toll of almost 80,000.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Gabriela Mello; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
