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Brazil’s Bolsonaro takes risk with new minister for pandemic
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made it clear on Friday that he wants his new health minister to help protect the country’s economy as the government seeks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Nelson Teich, an oncologist, was sworn in as health minister after his predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, was fired by Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the threat of the COVID-19 disease. Mandetta had garnered support for his handling of the pandemic, which included the promotion of broad isolation measures enacted by state governors.

“This fight to start reopening for business is a risk that I run,” Bolsonaro said during a ceremony in the presidential palace in Brasilia. If the pandemic escalates, he said, “it lands on my lap. But many people are aware that we need to open.”

Bolsonaro said Teich’s task is hard to accomplish.

“Put my and Mandetta’s positions next to each another, then split the difference. Then you will reach what interests all of us,” Bolsonaro said.

Mandetta’s measures had drawn the ire of Bolsonaro, who has said temporarily shutting down the economy would be devastating. He has also repeatedly described the virus as a “little flu,” and touted the yet-unproven efficacy of an anti-malarial drug.
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New Brazil health minister aims to spare economy from virus RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s new health minister was sworn into office on Friday, after pledging to work not only to save lives from the new coronavirus, but also to spare the economy....

Future of Society?
Coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus The global war against Covid-19 is a pivotal moment. Our lives have changed – and now we really are all in it together shows the folly of stripping state and society to the bone
ost of us have experienced nothing like this before. It is strange, forbidding and dislocating to a degree probably only experienced by those alive in the early 1940s. Events will get worse then hopefully better, but things will not go back to how they were. Nor should they.

Overload in a time of coronavirus

The first priority of the crisis is of course public safety, especially for the groups most at risk from catching the virus. But there are public policy issues and different futures that might arise as the crisis unfolds. Covid-19 doesn’t exist in a political vacuum.
The overriding narrative around the crisis can go one of two ways. It can become a story of personal, social and national isolation, of stockpiling and looking after number one, spiraling into something more sinister. Blame and the politics of ethno-nationalism and authoritarian populism could be boosted.
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Future of Society? Coronavirus outbreak Coronavirus The global war against Covid-19 is a pivotal moment. Our lives have changed – and now we really are all in it together shows...