Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro's
hailing it a full recovery.
After contracting coronavirus, Mr Bolsonaro's
back in the limelight, and some say benefiting politically
from the disease.
The former army captain has repeatedly
downplayed the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, often joined
in rallies without wearing any mask.
He called the disease a sniffle, even as Brazil's outbreak
became the worst in the world outside the US.
He has also sidelined medical experts,
replaced them with military personnel
and pushed back against lockdowns imposed
by governors and mayors.
Following in the footsteps of his political soulmate US
President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has also
said he was taking the anti-malaria drug,
hydroxychloroquine, a controversial treatment
for Covid-19, and he lost two health ministers partly because
of his touting of the drug.
After quarantining for a couple of weeks,
Jair Bolsonaro is back at work here
at the presidential palace.
Assuming he truly recovered from the virus,
he may emerge politically stronger from the pandemic.
His approval ratings remain at roughly 30 per cent,
and they're already showing signs of improvement.
With these numbers, history suggests
he would be able to fend off efforts
to eject him from office by impeachment procedures.
I think there's two benefits.
The first is that his quick recovery strengthens the claim
that the pandemic is actually not that bad.
And secondly, I think it also creates an image
or strengthens an image of Bolsonaro
as a superhuman messiah, which is also his second name.
And which, you know, particularly among his hardcore
supporters is something that, I think comes across as positive.
Brazil's death, a high by global standards,
but adjusted for the size of its 211 million population.
They are so far below those of neighbour's Peru,
which follow the European model of locking down quickly.
We have too many deaths to consider anything good
about all this epidemic.
I think we are living the most dramatic momentum
of my generation.
We never suffered too much and seeing
people dying without, I would say, necessity to die.
Despite of all this chaotic organisation,
the lack of a central co-ordination of the epidemic,
as you know, that we have been dealing with since the very
beginning, the virus will be endemic.
The virus is not going to disappear.
We know this.
This is the reason why we need vaccines.
We desperately need vaccines.
Much can still go wrong for Bolsonaro.
Brazil's coronavirus deaths may surge again
to intolerable levels.
People close to him may succumb to the virus,
and the economic hardship from the pandemic
could be worse than expected.
For now at least, his big political gamble
seems to be paying off.