Bolsonaro threatens to withdraw Brazil from WHO

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday (local time) threatened to withdraw his country from the World Health Organization (WHO), Xinhua news agency reported.

Bolsonaro said Brazil will consider leaving the WHO unless it stops being a “partisan political organization.” Earlier, the WHO showed an opposite view against Bolsonaro’s efforts to lift lockdowns, as the COVID-19 epidemic was still plaguing the country.

Speaking about loosening the social distancing order, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said a key criteria for lifting lockdowns should be slowing transmission. With a new record of daily COVID-19 fatalities, Brazil overtook Italy to become a country with the third highest infections in the world.

Brazil’s total COVID-19 deaths have surged to 34,021 after its health ministry on Thursday reported 1,437 new deaths in the past 24 hours.