COVID-19 pandemic

====Brazil====
The pandemic (and the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil#Responses|response of Brazilian politicians]] to it) led to widespread panic, confusion, and pessimism in Brazil.<ref name="BenderdaSilvaBaum2022">{{#invoke:cite journal || last1=Sott | first1=Michele Kremer | last2=Bender | first2=Mariluza Sott | last3=da Silva Baum | first3=Kamila | title=Covid-19 Outbreak in Brazil: Health, Social, Political, and Economic Implications | journal=International Journal of Health Services | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=52 | issue=4 | date=4 September 2022 | issn=0020-7314 | doi=10.1177/00207314221122658 | pages=442–454| pmid=36062608 | pmc=9445630 }}</ref> When questioned regarding record deaths in the country in April 2020, Brazilian President [[Jair Bolsonaro]] said "So what? I'm sorry. What do you want me to do about it?"<ref name="Conde 2020">{{#invoke:cite journal || last=Conde | first=Maite | title=Brazil in the Time of Coronavirus | journal=Geopolítica(s). Revista de estudios sobre espacio y poder | publisher=Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) | volume=11 | issue=Especial | date=11 May 2020 | issn=2172-7155 | doi=10.5209/geop.69349 | pages=239–249| s2cid=219439973 }}</ref> Bolsonaro disregarded WHO-recommended mitigation techniques and instead [[COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil#Comments by Bolsonaro|downplayed the risks of the virus]], promoted increased economic activity, spread [[COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil#Presidential responses|misinformation]] about the efficacy of masks, vaccines and public health measures, and distributed unproven treatments including [[Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic|hydroxychloroquine]] and [[ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic|ivermectin]].<ref name="BenderdaSilvaBaum2022"/> A series of [[List of Ministers of Health of Brazil|federal health ministers]] resigned or were dismissed after they refused to implement Bolsonaro's policies.<ref name="Londono2020">{{#invoke:cite news ||last1=Londoño |first1=Ernesto |title=Another Health Minister in Brazil Exits Amid Chaotic Coronavirus Response |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/world/americas/brazil-health-minister-bolsonaro.html |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=15 May 2020}}</ref>

Disagreements between federal and state governments led to a chaotic and delayed response to the rapid spread of the virus,<ref name="Dantas2020">{{#invoke:cite journal || last=Dantas | first=E. | title=Brazilian report on the coronavirus crisis: A clash of pandemics | journal=Medicine and Law | date=2020 | pages=153–160 | url=https://pesquisa.bvsalud.org/global-literature-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/resource/pt/covidwho-824117 | language=pt | access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref> exacerbated by preexisting social and economic disparities in the country.<ref name="BenderdaSilvaBaum2022"/><ref name="CarnutMendesGuerra2020">{{#invoke:cite journal || last1=Carnut | first1=Leonardo | last2=Mendes | first2=Áquilas | last3=Guerra | first3=Lucia | title=Coronavirus, Capitalism in Crisis and the Perversity of Public Health in Bolsonaro's Brazil | journal=International Journal of Health Services | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=51 | issue=1 | date=18 October 2020 | issn=0020-7314 | doi=10.1177/0020731420965137 | pages=18–30| pmid=33070682 | s2cid=224782017 }}</ref> Employment, investment and valuation of the [[Brazilian real]] plummeted to record lows.<ref name="BenderdaSilvaBaum2022"/><ref name="ReutersBrazil2020">{{#invoke:cite news ||title=Brazil stocks post steepest fall since 1998, real hits historic low 5.00 per dollar |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-markets/brazil-stocks-post-steepest-fall-since-1998-real-hits-historic-low-5-00-per-dollar-idUSKBN20Z3J1 |work=Reuters |date=12 March 2020 }}</ref> Brazil was also heavily affected by the Delta and Omicron variants.<ref name="AlcantaraNogueiraShuabTosta2022">{{#invoke:cite journal || last1=Alcantara | first1=Luiz Carlos Junior | last2=Nogueira | first2=Elisson | last3=Shuab | first3=Gabriel | last4=Tosta | first4=Stephane | last5=Fristch | first5=Hegger | last6=Pimentel | first6=Victor | last7=Souza-Neto | first7=Jayme A. | last8=Coutinho | first8=Luiz Lehmann | last9=Fukumasu | first9=Heidge | last10=Sampaio | first10=Sandra Coccuzzo | last11=Elias | first11=Maria Carolina | last12=Kashima | first12=Simone | last13=Slavov | first13=Svetoslav Nanev | last14=Ciccozzi | first14=Massimo | last15=Cella | first15=Eleonora | last16=Lourenco | first16=José | last17=Fonseca | first17=Vagner | last18=Giovanetti | first18=Marta | title=SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Brazil: how the displacement of variants has driven distinct epidemic waves | journal=Virus Research | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=315 | year=2022 | issn=0168-1702 | doi=10.1016/j.virusres.2022.198785 | page=198785| pmid=35461905 | pmc=9022374 }}</ref> At the height of the outbreak in the spring of 2021, 3,000+ Brazilians were dying per day.<ref name="BBCBrazilMarch2021">{{#invoke:cite news ||title=Covid: Brazil's daily deaths surpass 3,000 for first time |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56260570 |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=BBC News |date=24 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="NPRBrazilApril2021">{{#invoke:cite news ||last1=Reeves |first1=Philip |title=Brazil COVID-19: 'Humanitarian Crisis' With More Than 3,000 Deaths A Day |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/04/15/987741403/brazil-covid-19-humanitarian-crisis-with-more-than-3-000-deaths-a-day |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=NPR |date=15 April 2021}}</ref> Bolsonaro's loss to [[Lula da Silva]] in the [[2022 Brazilian general election|2022 presidential election]] is widely credited to the former's [[Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro#Response to COVID-19 pandemic|mishandling of the pandemic]].<ref name="ChomskyPolychroniou2023">{{#invoke:cite book || last1=Chomsky | first1=Noam | last2=Polychroniou | first2=C.J. | title=Illegitimate Authority | publisher=Haymarket Books | date=9 May 2023 | isbn=978-1-64259-934-3 | page=}}</ref><ref name="EconomistBolsonaroLoss2022">{{#invoke:cite news || title=Jair Bolsonaro is poised to lose the Brazilian election | newspaper=The Economist | date=8 September 2022 | url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2022/09/08/jair-bolsonaro-is-poised-to-lose-the-brazilian-election | access-date=14 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Milhorance2022October">{{#invoke:cite news ||last1=Milhorance |first1=Flávia |title=Bolsonaro, in defeat, may now face charges. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/30/world/americas/bolsonaro-charges-lost.html |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=30 October 2022}}</ref>