Jair Bolsonaro, a Brazilian President, faced calls to resign as mass protests swept more than 200 cities of the Andean country demanding his impeachment over the deepening COVID-19 crisis.
A Power Data survey released on Friday showed that Brazilian people demands Bolsonaro to step down, 57 per cent of the population support such a move.
The right-wing leader has been accused of “genocide” by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over his reckless handling of the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen more than 459,000 people die.
The ex-army captain is currently under investigation by a special senate commission which is evaluating his response to the outbreak, including actions to block regional action to prevent the spread of the disease and the promotion of unproven treatments.
But the chances of the investigation leading to impeachment are believed to be slim given the balance of the Brazilian Congress which is not likely to back such a move.
Brazil faced the toughest-ever crisis
As of Sunday, the South American country is reporting about 66,000 new covid-19 cases a day. Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll after the United States and has registered 16.4 million total cases since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Over a weekend, protesters laid thousands of crosses in memory of those who died as trade unionists and others demanded presidential resignation and more vaccines, with just 10 per cent of the population having received two doses.
Peopale is angered at delays and a refusal to buy 100 million Chinese vaccines which Dr Dimas Covas told the Senate committee on Thursday had prevented Brazil from becoming the first country in the world to start vaccinating its population.
Lula’s return to politics has unsettled the president, with the popular former trade union leader set to challenge him in next year’s presidential elections after restrictions on his standing were lifted because trumped-up corruption convictions, which stopped him running last time, have been quashed.
