Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has undergone a test for the new coronavirus after a top aide contracted the disease following a trip on which both met with Donald Trump, his son said Thursday.
“President Bolsonaro has been tested for coronavirus and we are waiting for the results. However, he is not exhibiting any symptoms of the disease,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, a lawmaker, wrote on Twitter.
The far-right leader’s test results are expected Friday, Brazilian media reports said.
He cancelled a scheduled trip Thursday to the city of Mossoro, in northeastern Brazil, and his office said he had no other official events on his daily agenda.
Bolsonaro had previously sought to downplay the coronavirus outbreak, saying its severity had been “overstated.”
The news came after Bolsonaro’s communications chief, Fabio Wajngarten, tested positive for COVID-19 after a trip to the United States last weekend during which both men met with the US president at his Florida resort.
Wajngarten was photographed standing side-by-side with Trump.
But Trump said he was “not concerned,” and the White House said he did not need testing.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence “had almost no interactions with the individual,” Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
They “do not require being tested at this time,” she said, explaining that US government guidelines do not recommend testing for people without symptoms.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, who also accompanied his father to the United States, said he was undergoing testing as well.
The Brazilian delegation also included Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, who cut short a subsequent trip to Washington Thursday to return to Brazil. He would follow all current protocols on the virus, his office said.
