Coronavirus: Bolsonaro calls for day of fasting and prayer to ‘free Brazil from evil’ epidemic

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has said he will declare this Sunday to be a day of prayer and fasting in response to the coronavirus outbreak, encouraging citizens to call on God to “free Brazil from this evil”. The right-wing populist, known as “the Trump of the tropics”, met with Pentecostal evangelical pastors on Friday at his official residence in Brasilia, where the proposal was made and acquiesced to. “With the pastors and religious leaders we will call for a day of fasting by Brazilians so that Brazil can free itself from this evil as soon as possible,” he subsequently told the Jovem Pan radio station. Download the new Independent Premium app Sharing the full story, not...