BOLSONARO BLASTED AS BRAZIL COVID DEATH TOLL BREACHES 500,000

Brazil has become the second country in the world to record more than half a million coronavirus deaths and citizens roundly blame President Jair Bolsonaro for the grim outcome of ineffective response to the pandemic.

The biggest country in Latin America has so far recorded 500,800 deaths related to COVID-19, the Health Ministry in Brasilia said, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported. So far, only the United States has registered a higher number of pandemic deaths, with almost 602,000.

More than 17.8 million people in Brazil have been infected with coronavirus and currently, some 80,000 new cases are being recorded every day. Around 30 percent of Brazilians have had a first vaccine dose so far, with around 11 percent fully vaccinated.

The right-wing Bolsonaro government has downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic from the beginning and resisted tough restrictions, citing the economic consequences.

Most recently, Bolsonaro has also questioned the sense of vaccination.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee is probing the Brazilian leader's crisis management during the pandemic. On Saturday, there were protests against Bolsonaro's coronavirus policy in numerous cities in Brazil.

WEEKLY FEATURE : PAL READY TO SOAR WITH PANDEMIC