The Brazilian Press Association said it will sue President Jair Bolsonaro for putting them at risk of being infected by the coronavirus after he held a news briefing to announce that he had contracted the deadly disease, according to a report.
“Despite knowing he was infected with COVID-19, President Jair Bolsonaro continues to act in a criminal manner and endanger the lives of others,” Paulo Jeronimo de Sousa, the president of the association, said in a statement, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported on Wednesday.
De Sousa said Bolsonaro “broke the isolation recommended by doctors” and gathered journalists to “personally inform them” that he tested positive.
The 65-year-old leader of Brazil announced on live television Tuesday in the capital, Brasilia, that he was infected, saying an initial examination showed “the lung’s clean.”
“It started on Sunday with a certain malaise and became worse throughout the day on Monday, feeling poorly, exhaustion, a bit of muscle ache, fever,” said Bolsonaro as he donned a mask.
Bolsonaro has refused to wear a mask and played down the severity of the virus, despite Brazil having the second-highest number of cases in the world after the US.
Brazil reported 1,668,589 cases and 66,741 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.
The US has topped 3 million cases and the death toll has exceeded 131,000.
The press association contends he violated the Brazilian Penal Code that punishes people for taking actions that could infect others with a serious illness with up to four years in prison.
DeSousa said Bolsonaro put people’s lives directly in imminent danger.
“It is not possible for the country to watch without reacting to successive behaviors that go beyond irresponsibility and create clear offenses against public health,” he said.