BRAZIL HEALTH CHIEF QUITS AFTER LESS THAN A MONTH ON THE JOB

Brazil has lost its second health minister in just two months, just a day after President Jair Bolsonaro was slapped in the face with a report that 14,000 of his countrymen had died from the COVID-19 virus.

The Latin American broadcast network teleSUR.net said on Friday, May 15, 2020, that Bolsonaro had been pressing Health Minister Nelson Teich to be bold in reopening Brazil and not follow the lead of Health Minister Luiz Mandetta, whom he kicked out on April 16.

Teich, whom the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, had criticized 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 via Whatsapp on Friday morning. Later in a press conference, he did not explain the reasons for his resignation.

"Life is made of choices, and today I chose to leave. I did the best I could in this period. It is not simple to be at the head of such a ministry at such a difficult time. I want to thank my team that has always worked intensively for this country," Teich said in a brief speech. #COVID19