Bolsonaro: Governors, mayors responsible to fight virus

ANKARA

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday said the country's governors and mayors were fully responsible to combat the coronavirus pandemic based on Federal Supreme Court's decision.

''I remind the Nation that, by decision of the STF [Federal Supreme Court], actions to combat the pandemic (closing trade and quarantine, eg) were under the full responsibility of the Governors and the Mayors,'' Bolsonaro tweeted.

Bolsonaro has from the beginning of the pandemic been pressuring the governors and mayors to relax coronavirus measures across the country to avoid an economic collapse. However, they have opposed to the president's approach to battle the outbreak.

In a series of tweets, Bolsonaro blamed the local officials for the out-of-control infection and death toll in the country, while defending his government's measures to fight the pandemic's economic burden on Brazilian people.

''- Our government has allocated hundreds of billions of reais not only to fight the virus, but also to prevent unemployment.

- Each month paid for emergency aid of R $ 600.00 corresponds to an expenditure of approximately R $ 40 billion for the Union,'' he said.

The Brazilian president went on to say that he will continue serving his country with ''faith in God'' despite media's efforts to ''delegitimize'' him and ''hinder governance.''

Brazil, which has the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in South America and the Caribbean, has the second highest number of cases worldwide with more than 691,700.

The South American nation has registered nearly 37,000 deaths and the pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down.