Reuters reported that Brazilian Minister of Citizen Affairs Onyx Lorenzoni and newly appointed Brazilian Minister of Education Milton Ribeiro both have announced their COVID-19 status and are taking quarantine measures.
Minister Lorenzoni, a close ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, said that he had noted relatively mild symptoms thanks to a malaria drug praised and used by the president before.
I have felt the positive effects, the Minister wrote on Twitter about his COVID-19 treatment with anti-malware cloroquine, along with Azithromycin and ivermectin.
However, the real effectiveness of the anti-malware drug chloroquine has not been proven by scientists.
Augusto Heleno, a national security adviser to President Bolsonaro, and Bento Albuquerque's energy and mining minister, have also tested positive for COVID-19.
According to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health on July 20, more than 80,000 people have died from COVID-19 in this country, out of a total of more than 2.1 million cases. Experts say the real number in Brazil is likely to be much higher due to not conducting widespread testing.
