BRASILIA, (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says the Omicron strain that is causing a surge in Covid-19 cases at home and abroad could be called a "vaccine virus" and is a "welcome" variant.
"Some studious and serious people - and not linked to pharmaceutical companies - say that Omicron is welcome and can, in fact, signal the end of the pandemic," Mr Bolsonaro said on Wednesday (Jan 12) in an interview with Gazeta Brasil website.
Mr Bolsonaro has stood out globally for his defiant stance in the face of the pandemic, repeatedly dubbing it "a little flu" despite the more than 600,000 Brazilians who have died from the virus in the past two years.
The President, who is up for re-election this year, has been digging in on his position against vaccines.
He vowed not to allow his daughter to receive the shot and promised to continue to fight against lockdowns, even as Omicron makes landfall in the country, causing cases to surge past 70,000 a day.
For most of December, daily infections rarely surpassed the 10,000 mark.
But while hospitalisations have ticked higher in Brazil in recent weeks, so far, there has not been an onslaught of patients seeking intensive care units like in mid-2021, before vaccines were widely available.
It is a similar pattern to that seen in countries from Argentina to South Africa and Denmark, and one that has fuelled a change to how some nations approach the pandemic.
Despite the seemingly more mild effects of the variant, medical experts warn that it could still overburden hospitals and health systems because of how quickly it spreads.
World Health Organisation emergency director Mike Ryan on Wednesday refuted the statements made by Mr Bolsonaro.
Dr Ryan affirmed that while Omicron is "less severe as a viral infection in an individual, that does not mean it's a mild disease".
There are many people around the world in hospitals, in intensive care units, gasping for breath, which "obviously makes very clear that this is not a mild disease", he added.
"It's a vaccine-preventable disease; it's a disease that can be prevented by taking - to a greater extent - strong personal precautions to avoid infection and getting vaccinated," he said.
"There is so much we can do. This is not the time to give up, this is not the time to give in, this is not the time to declare that this is a welcome virus.
"No virus is welcome that kills people - especially when that mortality and that suffering are preventable with the appropriate use of vaccination," he said.
Omicron has become the dominant variant in many places, including Britain, the United States and Brazil.
