Americas

Fourth member of Brazilian UN delegation tests positive for COVID-19

A fourth member of the Brazilian presidential delegation that attended the United Nations General Assembly has tested positive for COVID-19.

Pedro Guimaraes, chairman of the Brazilian state-owned Caixa Econômica Federal bank, announced on Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated, Reuters reported. Guimaraes said he is asymptomatic and has been isolating since returning to Brazil from New York last Wednesday.

In the past week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro, one diplomat and the country’s health minister Marcelo Queiroga have also tested positive for COVID-19. Queiroga has said he was also fully vaccinated while the younger Bolsonaro shared that he had received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.

President Bolsonaro has been publicly derisive of vaccines, proudly boasting of his unvaccinated status. Late last year, he bizarrely attacked the Pfizer vaccine appearing to facetiously suggest it might turn people into “crocodiles” or “bearded ladies.”

Notably, he broke U.N. rules when he attended the general assembly without having been vaccinated. Soon after arriving back in Brazil, Bolsonaro went into isolation when it was disclosed that members of his delegation had tested positive for COVID-19.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro said he had tested negative for COVID-19.