Brazil witnesses protests against President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the Covid-19 crisis

It is believed to be the largest protest seen by the country since the pandemic engulfed the nation last year.

Demonstrators in some of the country's largest cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, called for the president's impeachment and better access to Covid-19 vaccines. Many protesters did not appear to be practicing social distancing, although most wore masks, reports CNN.

Brazil has been hit hard by the COVID-19 virus since 2020.

Brazil is facing a possible third wave of Covid-19, with the Health Ministry reporting 79,670 new Covid-19 cases and 2,012 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday. The country has recorded more than 460,000 deaths from Covid-19 and 16 million infections, reports CNN.

Triggering controversy, Bolsonaro had repeatedly downplayed the pandemic in its initial stages.  

He reportedly previously called Covid-19 a "little flu" and sabotaged efforts to implement social distancing or lockdowns.

Brazil's Senate is conducting an inquiry into the Bolsonaro government's handling of the pandemic, reports CNN.

During the protest in Sao Paulo, several demonstrators expressed their anger against the president over the handling of the pandemic.
Nurse Patricia Ferreira said Bolsonaro was "worse than the virus at the moment."

"We are exhausted, with our healthcare system on the verge of collapse," she told CNN. "There is no solution to the pandemic with him (Bolsonaro) in power."

Student Beatriz Fernanda Silva said she was demonstrating to honor her uncle, who she said was killed by Covid-19 at age 42.

"I came here to fight for the vaccine that he was unable to get and could have saved him. He died at the end of February and left two children and a wife," the student said.

She said she recognized the risk she was taking by "being on the street in the middle of a pandemic," but thought it was important to speak out.

"A lot of people are dying. Bolsonaro should do something about it, but from the start, he treated it with total neglect," Silva told CNN.

The protests were largely peaceful, except for Pernambuco state capital Recife, where the police used rubber bullets, gas bombs, and pepper spray to disperse the crowd, reported the American news channel.