Brazil’s Bolsonaro tells crowd to ‘quit all the fussing and whining,’ as COVID deaths set new records

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, told a crowd to “quit all the fussing and whining” about the pandemic, as the country set two consecutive daily records of COVID-19 deaths. “For how long are you going to keep on crying?” he asked.

According to the Brazilian news portal G1, the far-right leader made the remarks on Thursday speaking with supporters in the midwestern state of Goiás, where nearly 9,000 people have died.

Bolsonaro was criticizing recently enacted measures adopted by state and city leaders, as the pandemic continues to ravage the nation.

“How much longer will you stay at home and close everything? No one can stand it anymore. We regret the deaths, again, but we need a solution,” the 65-year-old former army captain said.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to one of his ministers during a ceremony commemorating the 160th anniversary of the state bank Caixa Economica Federal at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 12. (Eraldo Peres/)

Bolsonaro, an unapologetic coronavirus-skeptic — and hydroxychloroquine-believer — has famously described COVID-19 as a “little flu,” and has angered critics in Brazil and abroad for downplaying the seriousness of the virus.

Since the first months of the crisis, he has aggressively pushed for the reopening of the country’s economy — even against members of his own cabinet.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has the world’s second-highest death count, with more than 260,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

Currently the country is dealing with a disastrous vaccination plan: less than 3.5% of the population of the South American nation of 210 million have been fully vaccinated.

Scientists are also worried about a new virus variant first detected in the Amazon region, which is believed to be highly infectious.

“We are experiencing the worst outlook for the pandemic since it started,” Gonzalo Vecina Neto, the former head of Brazilian health regulator Anvisa, told Reuters.

A demonstrator shows a sign with text written in Portuguese that reads "Indians Killed by Covid" during a protest against the lack of action to combat the new coronavirus by the administration of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, in front of the presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 21. (Eraldo Peres/)

On Friday, the Valor Econômico newspaper said that members of the country’s ministry of health said that the combination of new virus variants, added to the lack of proper vaccine distribution and a collapse of the health care system will likely lead to a “perfect storm.”

The daily death toll could “explode” to more than 3,000 in the coming weeks, experts said.

In December, Bolsonaro told supporters that the country was finally living “the tail-end” of the pandemic, according to news site Poder360.

He also said that “our country, taking into account other countries in the world, was the one that did the best — or one of the countries that did the best — in the pandemic.”

Since that day, Dec. 10, more than 82,000 Brazilians have died of COVID-19.