Brazilian services sector closed the second quarter of 2020 with a fall of 15.4%, according to IBGE

 The services sector, the most important in the Brazilian economy, ended the second quarter of 2020 with a decrease of 15.4%, according to the Brazilian Institute of Statistical Geography (IBGE).

The sector was hit hard by the pandemic of the new coronavirus, since some of its main activities had to close its doors due to social isolation measures, such as bars and restaurants, gyms and beauty salons.

In June, the services sector recovered. The sector grew 5% in June, influenced by the easing of social isolation, but even so, the accumulated result is still at a level 24% below the peak of the historical series, recorded in November 2014.

First lady Michelle Bolsonaro's grandmother dies of Covid-19; Brazilian Ministry of Economy suffers from stampede of team members; and São Paulo Governor João Doria announces that he is with Covid-19

First lady Michelle Bolsonaro's grandmother, Maria Aparecida Firmo Ferreira, who was 80, died of complications from Covid-19 in the Federal District, Brazil. Michelle who has also been diagnosed Covid-19 has yet to comment on her grandmother's death.

The minister of Economy of Brazi, Paulo Guedes, said yesterday (11/08) that there is a "stampede" of his team members. The reason is that government wings that defend more public investments, such as the Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho, and President Jair Bolsonaro himself, who was never a neoliberal but a defender of the privileges of the military in Brazil, are abandoning the neoliberal agenda defended by Guedes and his followers.

For this reason, there is great speculation that Guedes may leave the government, despite of him saying that he will not leave.

João Doria, the governor of São Paulo, the state with the largest economy in Brazil, said today that he tested positive for Covid-19, that he has no symptoms and will work from home. At 62, he is the 11th Brazilian governor to test positive for the disease.

Jornal Nacional, most-watched broadcast news program in Brazil, points possible reasons for Bolsonaro's impeachment

The Jornal Nacional, in its edition today, cited article 196 of the Brazilian Constitution, which recognizes the right of all citizens to health. The television program also cited Article 6 of the Brazilian Constitution, which states that health is a social right.

In addition, it was explained by the Jornal Nacional tv anchors that it is a crime of responsibility to violate social law according to Law 1,079 / 1950, in Articles 7 and 9.

Today, according to Al Jazeera website, "Brazil's coronavirus deaths have surpassed 100,000 deaths five months after the first reported case in a sign that the country has not contained the deadly disease".

Paulo Guedes, Minister of Economy of Brazil, affirms in an event of the Aspen Security Forum that the Americans killed Indians and deforested forests and now want to spare Brazilians from destroying the Amazon rainforest

The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, today, at the Aspen Security Forum event, organized by the Aspen Institute, a study center in Washington, USA, said:

"We understand your concern (North Americans), because you have cleared your forests. You want to save us from clearing the forest, as you cleared yours. We know that you had civil wars, you also had slavery and we just ask you to be kind. how kind we are. You killed your Indians, you didn't mix. "

The phrase was received with great concern by foreign investors, as it points to a position of the Brazilian government that is not concerned with protecting the forest. On the contrary, it seems to understand that cutting down the forest is part of the country's development process.

Unemployment in Brazil exceeds 13% after about 9 million workers had been laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic

The unemployment rate in Brazil rose to 13.3%, an increase of 1.1 percentage point (p.p.) compared to the quarter ended in March 2020. As a result, the number of unemployed workers was 12.8 million. The data are from the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (Continuous Pnad), carried out by IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).

The number of discouraged reached 5.7 million people, the largest contingent in the historical series. They are people with the potential to work, but who simply gave up looking for a formal job. The majority of them are working in informal jobs or are unoccupied.

According to the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, "commerce was the sector most affected, with the closing of 2.1 million jobs. In civil construction, there were 1.1 million fewer. Among domestic workers, there were 1 , 3 million layoffs".

Four out of ten Brazilian municipalities have no sewage service, according to IBGE

About 39.7% of Brazilian municipalities do not have sewage service, according to the National Survey of Basic Sanitation (PNSB), released by IBGE.

Despite the growth in the supply of these sewage services, which practically doubled in the last thirty years in the Northeast region of Brazil, from 26.1% in 1989 to 52.7% and from 12.9% to 43% of municipalities in the Midwest region, the provision of basic sanitation services in Brazil is still far from an acceptable level.

According to the Trata Brasil Institute, a survey based on data released by the National Sanitation Information System (SNIS - base 2018), shows that advances in this area are insufficient for Brazil to fulfill national and international commitments in treated water, collection, and treatment of water sewers.

With two months of deflation and growth in the number of unemployed, Brazil under Bolsonaro`s government is heading for an economic scenario even more serious than the current one

The Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), considered the official indicator of inflation in Brazil, fell 0.38% in May. This is the second consecutive decline in the index, which recorded a 0.31% decrease in April, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Still, according to IBGE, the services sector dropped 11.7% in April, compared to March. The results of the Monthly Service Survey, released today (17) by the IBGE, show that, in these three months of retraction, the sector accumulates a loss of 18.7%. Unemployment grew more than 10% in May alone.

According to José Paulo Kupfer, the "deflation of the IPCA in May deepens the deflation of April. Consumption of goods and, above all, services, down. Unemployment, loss of income, fear of contagion, and the 'precautionary savings', affect the activity, and keeps inflation below the floor."

Many economists are point out that with two consecutive months of deflation, the basic interest rate defined by the Brazilian Central Bank increases in real terms for the State's creditors. In this way, it ends up promoting a rent which, while benefiting a wealthy minority of the population, accelerates the country's economic recession further.

As Brazil moves quickly to scare the number of 50,000 killed by COVID-19, Brazilian companies continue to fail and breaking down and unemployment still rising. In this dramatic scenario, the Bolsonaro government meeting that went public shows only authoritarian delusions and bravado. The coronavirus crisis was not even mentioned in this meeting, which wasn't made any proposals to take Brazil out of the crisis.

Besides that, according to research conducted by the Page Group, more than 10 million Brazilians have already had reduced working hours and wages or have their contract suspended during the coronavirus pandemic. This made the country a leader in wage reduction in Latin America. In Brazil, 11.8% indicated the reduction in salary as a measure to face the crisis, while in Latin America it is adopted by 7.1%. The reduction in working hours, in turn, represents 7.8% of the responses against 4.2% in the region.

The scenario in which Brazil is heading should be marked by a deep drop in revenue, as a result of the slowdown in economic activity, high unemployment, and serious political crisis.

Carlos Wizard resigns from the Ministry of Health after defending “recount” of deaths by COVID-19; decision came after the billionaire's companies began to suffer a boycott of Brazilians

Billionaire Carlos Wizard will no longer take over the Secretariat at the Brazilian Ministry of Health. According to the G1 website, "in recent weeks, Wizard had been participating in meetings on the coronavirus pandemic. He was not nominated in the Federal Official Gazette and, therefore, also did not receive public money".

Carlos Wizard not only announced the recount of the deaths but also stated that the number presented by the Ministry of Health was unrealistic. After that, the ministry took the information from the official website. This caused a huge reaction in the country, including a strong campaign to boycott all brands linked to the billionaire Wizard, who, after losing money, decided to leave do government with even been officially hired.

After all, Wizard also says if any of his statements could have offended victims.

The development of this case indicates that it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to support Bolsonaro's proto-fascist necropolitics. In this case, it became evident that for Wizard, as well as for other entrepreneurs, before Bolsonaro's support comes their business, and a boycott is everything a businessman doesn't want.

Carlos Wizard, the new secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Health defends the recounts of the number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus; without any scientific evidence, he said the numbers were "fanciful or manipulated"

Carlos Wizard, upon assuming the position of the new secretary of Science, Technology and Strategic Inputs of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, said that he will work to review the numbers of the coronavirus in the country.

Wizard, who is known for having founded a network of English schools in Brazil, has no experience in the health sector (the current interim Minister of Health in Brazil also has no experience in the area, he is a general in the Brazilian army ).

Many fear that Wizard intends to establish a kind of Ministry of Truth in Brazil, dedicated only to "retelling" the more than 34 thousand deaths by COVID-19. It seems like Wizard wants Covid-19 deaths to simply and magically disappear. In addition, billionaire Wizard also advocates the use of chloroquine to prevent COVID-19.

Last night the Ministry of Health of Brazil has stopped releasing a total of confirmed Covid-19 cases & deaths and the government site is "under maintenance" since then. The president Jair Bolsonaro said that the government is adapting itself "for better precision". 

This was viewed as an act of censorship. According to the John Hopkins website, Brazil has 614,941 cases and 34,021 deaths. 

While Brazil reaches half a million cases of COVID-19, with almost thirty thousand deaths, the country remains without a health minister and the president Bolsonaro rides a horse amid a demonstration as if nothing had happened

According to a survey carried out by the independent health data platform Functional Health Techo, the next July 6th will be the peak of contamination by COVID-19 in Brazil. On that date, the country will reach 1.78 million people with the coronavirus. This number, however, does not account for the cases of people recovered or who died.

According to the figures released by the state's health departments, Brazil currently has 514,992 cases of the new coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2), with 29,341 deaths, thus passing France in the number of deaths.

In the midst of this unprecedented health crisis, Brazil remains without a Minister of Health, a portfolio that is currently occupied temporarily by a military man who is not a doctor and has no experience in the area of public health. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on the other hand, rode out on horseback to participate in a demonstration by supporters in Brasília.

Without a mask, Bolsonaro also greeted people crowded over the protective fence in the act in defense of his government. Thousands of people, many without protection (mask), gathered in front of the government headquarters.

COVID-19: João Dória, governor of São Paulo, the richest and most populous state of Brazil, decides to relax the quarantine starting June 1st

The resumption of some economic activities in the state of São Paulo as of June 1st, according to Governor João Dória, will be done gradually. Every 15 days the situation will be analyzed, in case of an increase in cases, new determinations on restrictions must be announced. Wearing masks and social detachment remains mandatory. Doria ruled out a lockdown in the coming weeks.

Dória was one of the main critics of the posture of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who defends the return of economic activities. With the decision, Dória gave up pressure from part of the State's economic and political power. The measure to relax the quarantine in the context of deaths by COVID-19, which is still increasing in several regions of the State of São Paulo and in several other Brazilian states, is, above all, a political decision.

With that, Dória intends to demonstrate that his administration was more efficient in combating the coronavirus crisis and in the deadline for the reopening of the economy than Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. With this, he intends to meet the demands of the Brazilian right and extreme right, which defend the total opening of the economy. Dória's plan is to position herself as a more technical administrator than Bolsonaro. However, despite all the discourse of respecting science, Dória is taking such measures for mainly political reasons.

São Paulo does not do enough tests to know exactly how the State is facing COVID-19, despite the nearly 4 million tests that would have been released. Doria, therefore, will reopen São Paulo in the winter, at a time when the State is also facing an increase in the number of H1N1 cases.