Brasilia, April 12 (RHC)-- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Saturday made a visit to Aguas Lindas de Goias, located in state of Goias.  After visiting an emergency hospital, the former captain went out into the street -- without a face-mask -- to meet his fans who wanted to take photos with the right-wing president.

Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who himself took part in the visit to the hospital, did not go on the tour to greet the people.  "The recommendation to avoid crowds is valid for everyone," said Mandetta shortly after Bolsonaro waded out into the crowd without protection.

Since the beginning of the pandemics, however, the Brazilian president has downplayed the COVID-19 by calling it just "the little flu."  As if Bolsonaro were promoting an agenda based on non-prevention, he visits churches, malls and other places where he has posed for photos and greeted supporters.

Earlier, Bolsonaro went for a walk in Brasilia to exercise what he called his "constitutional right" to come and go freely, a phrase that ratified his contempt for the epidemiologists' recommendations. 

In a country where COVID-19 has claimed over 1,000 deaths so far, however, citizens harshly rejected the attitude of the former captain.

When the presidential caravan stopped at a pharmacy, Bolsonaro was greeted with "the noise of pans hit by neighbors who loudly demanded him, from their balconies and windows, to go home and respect the quarantine imposed by local authorities."