The Infodemic—March 30
Welcome! We're tracking the global spread of coronavirus disinformation, and what's been done to combat it. Here are a few narratives - real and fake - that have caught our attention
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has been at the forefront of downplaying the country’s worsening Covid-19 outbreak (4,256 infected, 136 deaths).
Going against state governors and his own health minister, Bolsanaro has called on Brazilians to relax quarantine measures and get back to work.
Quarantined Brazilians responded with protests—banging pots and pans from windows and balconies of major cities. And on Monday Twitter took down two of Bolsonaro’s tweets in which he was critical of the quarantine measures (the only other world leader this has happened to so far is Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro).