dr paulo lotufo is a professor of medicine specialising in epidemiology at the university of sao pauloand second only to the us, and fears that the peak hasn‘t yet been reached. why do people feel that? so, the situation in brazil is very bad because you are fighting against the virus, and the federal government that isn‘t doing enough for playing against the authoritarian measures to control the pandemic. it is shameful to watch the results of the notes from the supreme court about the meeting. the supreme court discussed more than three hours about everything, and absolutely nothing about the pandemic. so you‘re saying his leadership is running counter to the measures that you would like to see to try and reduce the spread? yes. you have two situations — in the series where you have the most cases, the number of deaths and cases is skyrocketing. in another site, you have the spreading of the infection for the other towns. at the same time, i think you have the worst things — you have the worst things — you have increased cases and the spreading of the cases through the country. what

brazil could have, according to the university of sao paulo medical school, the highest number of infectionsworld. so what is going wrong? i think that people started, theyjust did not want to keep on with staying at home and they decided, well, chris hill is a whole continent. we area large chris hill is a whole continent. we are a large country with 215 million people. —— brazil as a whole continent. it is natural that we have more cases than small countries like portugal or greece. brazil is larger than the whole of europe itself so it is not... it is not fairto compare itself so it is not... it is not fair to compare brazil to a small country. i understand that point, brazil is a large country with a large population what makes brazil different from countries like germany or south korea, who have successfully control and curb covid—19, the difference is that brazil is led by a president who from the very beginning has belittled the danger of covid—19, calling it a little flu, sniffles. more than that, he encouraged his people to return to work. he wants to see the lockdown relaxed, the s

of living. dr paulo lotufo is a professor of medicine, specialising in epidemiology at the university of sao pauloee the numbers of cases rising. we have seen warnings about the capacity at the healthcare about the capacity at the healthca re system about the capacity at the healthcare system and the sharp end there, and yet people don't seem to be obeying the lockdown. what is happening with the lockdown? in brazil, it is partial, it is not working as in other countries, so working as in other countries, so you have social isolation, thatis so you have social isolation, that is partial, and most problems in brazil is against the coronavirus and against the federal government. the presidentjair bolsonaro federal government. the president jair bolsonaro is fighting against the national health system. he fired the minister of health and he is denying the pandemic. to date, hejoined —— denying the pandemic. to date, he joined —— today, denying the pandemic. to date, hejoined —— today, hejoined supporters in front of the presidential palace to get them to fight against social isolation. what effect do

sao paolo. earlier i spoke to dr paulo lotufo — a professor of medicine at the university of sao paulo, and askedh the lockdown in brazil. in brazil, the lockdown is partial, it's not working exactly as in other countries, so you have social isolation, that is partial, and most problems in brazil that you are fighting, against the coronavirus and against the federal government. president bolsonaro is fighting against the national health system. he fired the minister of health and he's denying the pandemic. today, he joined supporters in front of the presidential palace to get them to fight against social isolation. and what effect do you think that is having? so, it's a contradiction between the determination of the governors of the states who are doing a very good job, in sao paulo and rio de janeiro, to provide good social isolation. that is one point. the second point is that the federal government is not releasing the financial support for the poor people so for them it's very difficult to keep social isolation without financial support that was approved by the house and by the senate. and wh

of the measures being used here by the government. i'm wearing a mask. that's pretty much universal on the streets here of sao paulo.f lockdown in the commercial areas here too. but the sense of kind of a deathly silence here, frankly, is already upon the biggest city. you saw the extent of the graves being dug here. and we're not even at the peak yet. that's still two weeks away. imagine where we could be a fortnight from now. >> thank you for the scene from the grund for us. john? >> new developments for u.s. cities, washington, d.c. is targeting may 29th as a date to begin reopening. a d.c. pub owner has seen his business suffer, but despite the setbacks he's going beyond the call to help those working to keep us safe. cnn's kristen holmes with more. >> reporter: the taps are dry. and kerwin's irish pub is silent. >> it is just empty barstools, empty seats. >> reporter: but the kitchen is still bustling. >> today's menu is a fireman's favorite. >> reporter: every day owner mark kerwin and his skeleton staff he wasn't forced to lay off spend hours preparing meals for a different set of customers. first responders.

university is partnered up with a u.k. based pharmaceutical company. the number of deaths from the corona virus in brazil has surpassed 15000 that's more than the rest of latin america combined meanwhile protesters in sao paulo are set to defy lockdown orders to demand an easing of restrictions. former u.s. president barack obama has criticised trump's handling of the pandemic speaking at a virtual ceremony for thousands of high school graduates he said they have to seize the initiative where leaders have fumbles. afghanistan's political uncertainty has come to an end with the president signing a power sharing agreement with his rival danny and his main challenger abdullah

sao paulo university. i pointed out that some people are surprised the country is opening up at this point, but president bolsonaro does seem to have a lot ofgislation as an internal matter for a country, it's the case in any country. brazil is a massive country, a co nsta nt brazil is a massive country, a constant size country, so the picture is not the same everywhere. but it is a country with a deep structural, socio—economic and geographic inequality. it is also a country that has gone through a debilitating economic recession over the past five years. it has not come out of that crisis really before it confronted the coronavirus crisis, the economic crisis has made people poon economic crisis has made people poor, rollback social services, and including the health services in various states. so it is no wonder that it is confronting the pandemic in such a severe confronting the pandemic in such a severe way. confronting the pandemic in such a severe way. it should have taken particularly proactive action because it was not ina proactive action because it was not in a position to tackle such a crisis in the first place, ina such a crisi

sao paulo university. i pointed out that some people are surprised the country is opening up at this point, but president bolsonaro does seem to have a lot oftinent —sized country so the picture is not the same everywhere but if we want to take a general look at it, it's country with deep structural socio—economic and geographic inequalities in a country that has gone through a debilitating economic recession over the past five years. it hasn't come out of that crisis really before it confronted the coronavirus crisis. the economic crisis has made people poorer, rolled back social services, including the health services in various states. so it's no wonder that it's confronting the pandemic in such a severe way. it should have taken particularly proactive action because it was not positioned to tackle such a crisis in the first place in a very strong position and it needed seamless co—ordination between different levels of decision—making. instead, what we are seeing since the beginning of the pandemic, is crisis and division at every single level, whether it's the federal government level, whether it's the federal government and state gove

university is partnered up with a u.k. based pharmaceutical company. the number of deaths from the corona virus in brazil has surpassed 15000 that's more than the rest of latin america combined meanwhile protesters in sao paulo are set to defy lockdown orders to demand an easing of restrictions. former u.s. president barack obama has criticised trump's handling of the pandemic speaking at a virtual ceremony for thousands of high school graduates he said they have to seize the initiative where leaders have fumbles. afghanistan's political uncertainty has come to an end with the president signing a power sharing agreement with his rival danny and his main challenger abdullah abdullah have been locked in a stalemate over last year's disputed election. will now lead the council for peace talks and members of his team will form part of the cabinet there's a growing rift in syria among the president's inner circle bashar assad's cousin a business tycoon has refused to step down as head of the largest mobile operator in the country in a 16 minute video posted online says the collapse of syria tel would be a catastrophic setback for the economy. are those the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera right aft