COVID-19 cases pass 150 million worldwide
ACCOUNTABILITY: With deaths rising in Brazil, the senate has started a probe of Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, accusing the president of neglect
AFP, PARIS
Worldwide COVID-19 cases yesterday passed 150 million, as India recorded another 385,000 new cases in the past 24 hours and Brazil’s death toll surpassed 400,000.
According to official data, 150.3 million COVID-19 cases have been declared since the virus was first discovered in China in December 2019.
The number of new daily infections has more than doubled since mid-February. The figure had slowed to a more than 350,000 a day in January, but is now 821,000 a day.
April 30, 2021 last updated 18:0 ET World leaders virtually attend the opening session of the Leaders Summit on Climate, as seen on a screen at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office in Ankara, Turkey, April 22, 2021 (Photo by Mustafa Kamaci for Turkish Presidency via AP).
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Brazilian Activists Display Fake Body Bags Representing Dead as Country Becomes Second to Pass 400,000 Deaths
On 4/30/21 at 3:40 PM EDT
Activists laid 400 plastic bags representing dead bodies at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday to memorialize the country s more than 400,000 COVID-19 deaths. 400k dead? Who are responsible and accomplices? said Rio de Paz, the non-governmental organization that set up the demonstration in a Facebook post translated by Google. Every hour a dramatization will be done by the protesters, symbolizing the burial of those whose lives would have been preserved if the Brazilian public authorities did not act with such neglect and incompetence.
Brazil Auctions Rio Water Concession For $4 Bn In Win For Bolsonaro
04/30/21 AT 8:14 PM
Brazil raked in a larger-than-expected $4 billion Friday auctioning the operating rights to the Rio de Janeiro water and sewer system, a win for President Jair Bolsonaro and his privatization agenda.
The far-right leader attended the auction in Sao Paulo, which garnered 22.7 billion reais more than double the minimum price and came after a political battle that nearly saw the concession sale canceled.
Bolsonaro, who has struggled to implement the privatization plans he campaigned on in 2018, called the auction historic. This is a government that believes in the free market, that believes in winning investors confidence, he said.