[custom_adv] It’s one of several such hospitals being built in Rio de Janeiro to deal with the growing outbreak there. The state has more than 6,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 670 deaths as of April 28. [custom_adv] There, protesters supported military intervention and demanded an end to lockdown measures state governors in the country have put in place — and which Bolsonaro opposes. [custom_adv] During his speech to supporters, Bolsonaro, his face uncovered, coughed. [custom_adv] This split-screen moment highlights the strange situation in Brazil, where state governors and public health officials try to battle a deadly pandemic that is threatening to overwhelm the country’s health care system while the elected leader of the country downplays the severity of the virus and fights against their efforts at every turn. [custom_adv] Bolsonaro’s reckless response to the coronavirus undercut the country’s ability to manage it and drew outrage, especially from the opposition, for his mishandling of the outbreak. [custom_adv] And now Brazil is at the edge of a political crisis, as Bolsonaro is now facing an investigation into possible corruption. This scandal threatens to plunge the country deeper into turmoil in the middle of a pandemic. [custom_adv] ”The system was already overburdened before the coronavirus came along, and now the pandemic is putting even more pressure on those public hospitals, with the number of ICU beds running short in major cities. [custom_adv] “This could be very catastrophic for Brazil,” Karin Nielsen, professor of clinical pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at UCLA, told me, “and it’s already on top of an ongoing crisis, and shortages of medical supplies and medical equipment.