On Saturday March 7, 2020, then U.S. President Donald Trump sat down to a lavish banquet at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right leader of Brazil. He was also photographed with Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, both men sporting “Make Brazil Great Again” baseball caps. 

When the delegation returned from Florida, Wajngarten tested positive for Covid-19. Before long, 24 members of the visiting team were also diagnosed. Then, Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo told Fox News that his father had contracted the virus.

A media frenzy ensued. Bolsonaro took to Facebook to insist he had tested negative, posting a photograph of himself making an obscene gesture to the press. All the same, he was ordered into isolation by medical staff. No one knew for sure whether he was positive or not and, for a couple of days, the world wondered if he had passed the infection on to Trump. 

Nationwide protests against Brazil’s congress, which was locked in battle with the presidency over control of the annual budget, had been scheduled by Bolsonaro supporters for Sunday March 15. Bolsonaro originally discouraged the gatherings, owing to the pandemic. On the day, though, he broke quarantine to greet hundreds of demonstrators outside the presidential palace.