Coronavirus: Brazil’s health minister quits as crisis worsens – The National

Coronavirus: Brazil’s health minister quits as crisis worsens – The National

Coronavirus: Brazil's health minister quits as crisis worsens. Mr Teich, whom President Bolsonaro had criticised as being too timid in the push to reopen the economy and advocate the use of anti-malarial drugs to fight the virus, submitted his resignation and will hold a news conference later on Friday, the ministry said.. The loss of his second health minister in less than a month spurred criticism of the right-wing president from politicians and calls for his impeachment.. Mr Teich struggled to reach consensus with state governments over guidelines on reopening their economies, as Mr Bolsonaro has demanded.. The last straw for Mr Teich may have been the president's insistence on a wider use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the novel coronavirus, which the minister has resisted due to a lack of scientific evidence.. The week Brazil passed Germany and France in coronavirus cases, with more than 200,000 confirmed infections by Thursday, when the health ministry reported 844 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 13,933.. Lawmaker Marcelo Ramos of the centrist Liberal Party said the president would only accept a minister without regard for science-based public health policy.. Congressional opposition leader Alessandro Molon warned that Brazil was heading toward