04-07-2021, 09:46 PM
São Paulo (CNN)Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has shrugged off criticisms that he is "genocidal" in his opposition to Covid-19 restrictions, as the nation recorded its deadliest 24 hours of the pandemic so far.
Brazil smashed its previous daily record with 4,195 Covid-19 fatalities, health ministry data Tuesday showed -- marking the highest death count in the world for that 24-hour period, according to Johns Hopkins University. The new figures pushed Brazil's total pandemic death toll to almost 337,000.
Additionally, nearly 87,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported across the country, raising the total tally of infections to 13,100,580, according to the health ministry.
Bolsonaro, who has continued to downplay the seriousness of his country's health crisis, brushed off claims he was to blame for the country's spiraling death toll. The President has repeatedly opposed lockdowns and restrictive measures, and criticized governors and mayors with insulting language for implementing them.
"They called me homophobic, racist, fascist, a torturer and now... what is it now? Now I am... someone who kills a lot of people? Genocidal. Now, I'm genocidal," he said to supporters outside the Presidential Palace in Brasilia on Tuesday evening, according to video posted on YouTube.
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Brazil smashed its previous daily record with 4,195 Covid-19 fatalities, health ministry data Tuesday showed -- marking the highest death count in the world for that 24-hour period, according to Johns Hopkins University. The new figures pushed Brazil's total pandemic death toll to almost 337,000.
Additionally, nearly 87,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported across the country, raising the total tally of infections to 13,100,580, according to the health ministry.
Bolsonaro, who has continued to downplay the seriousness of his country's health crisis, brushed off claims he was to blame for the country's spiraling death toll. The President has repeatedly opposed lockdowns and restrictive measures, and criticized governors and mayors with insulting language for implementing them.
"They called me homophobic, racist, fascist, a torturer and now... what is it now? Now I am... someone who kills a lot of people? Genocidal. Now, I'm genocidal," he said to supporters outside the Presidential Palace in Brasilia on Tuesday evening, according to video posted on YouTube.
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