President Jeanine Añez announced that she was infected with the coronavirus, as did the President of the National Assembly in Venezuela. In America, the number of cases is still increasing.
The coronavirus covid-19 continues its acceleration in America and affects its leaders: the Bolivian president and the Venezuelan number two announced Thursday 9th July having contracted it, a few days after the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, while the United States and Mexico have experienced a new daily record of infections.
He dado positivo a Covid19, estoy bien, trabajaré desde mi aislamiento. Juntos, vamos a salir adelante. pic.twitter.com/oA4YVYlZFa
— Jeanine Añez Chavez (@JeanineAnez) July 9, 2020
“I’m positive at Covid-19, I’m fine, I will work in isolation. Together, we are going to move forward, ”tweeted Bolivian Jeanine Añez , who is also a candidate in the presidential election on September 6th.
“I will be in quarantine for fourteen days and will do another test. I feel good, ”added the 53-year-old right-wing leader in a video posted to her Twitter account. Three members of his government had said in recent days that they had been infected.
Venezuelan leaders affected
She became interim president of Bolivia after the resignation and exile of the leftist president Evo Morales in November 2019.
Bolivia – eleven million inhabitants – has recorded 42,984 cases of contamination and deplores 1,577 deaths linked to Covid-19 .
Almost at the same time, in Venezuela , the president of the National Constituent Assembly and number two of the presidential party (PSUV) Diosdado Cabello revealed to have been contaminated. He had interrupted his weekly program on Wednesday, saying he was “fighting a strong allergy”.
“All my solidarity (…). He is resting, he is fine, “responded President Nicolas Maduro, announcing on this occasion that Omar Prieto, governor of the state of Zulia (west) which is on the border with Colombia and where is located the most important focus of Covid-19 in Venezuela, was also affected by the disease.
Bolsonaro still advocates hydroxychloroquine
According to official figures – which are underestimated according to the opposition and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch -, 8,372 cases and 80 deaths have been confirmed in the country.
This is much less than in Brazil, the most affected Latin American country and the second in the world, where the latest assessment on Thursday reported 69,184 deaths (“1,220 in 24 hours) and 1.75 million cases (” 42,619).
Its far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, openly sceptical of the pandemic and opposed to protective measures against the virus, announced Tuesday that he had been infected. He trumpeted two days later that he was “very well”.
Since the start of the pandemic, the 65-year-old leader has stepped up crowds – mostly without a mask and shaking hands -. On Thursday, he again advocated the use of hydroxychloroquine, a controversial drug.
New case record in Mexico
The situation continues to worsen in Latin America, with Peru which crossed the threshold of 11,000 dead Wednesday or El Salvador whose capital is in “critical phase” according to the NGO Doctors Without Borders.
And Mexico recorded a new record of daily cases (+7,280) on Thursday for a total of 282,283, and 33,526 deaths.
The virus is also spreading at high speed in the United States. They also broke a new record for the number of infections in a day, with more than 65,500 additional cases reported, according to the 8:30 p.m. local count at Johns Hopkins University.
The total number of cases registered now stands at over 3.11 million. The previous daily record dated Tuesday (more than 60,200 new cases).
And a thousand people have died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, for a total of 133,195 deaths in the United States.
