BOLSONARO STILL FIRM AGAINST NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday continued to rule out tough coronavirus-related restrictions.

"We will look for alternatives," Bolsonaro said during a visit to the country's south, according to the G1 news portal. "We will not accept the policy of staying at home, of cordoning off, of lockdown," he added.

Bolsonaro has played down the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic from the start and is resisting a nationwide lockdown, referring to the economic consequences any such move would have, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Brazil is one of the worst-affected countries in the world.

On Tuesday, health authorities registered more than 4,000 deaths related to COVID-19 within 24 hours for the first time. So far, more than 13 million people in the largest country in Latin America have been infected with the coronavirus, and almost 337,000 people have died.

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