Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's son says father tests negative for COVID-19: He's OK
Eduardo Bolsonaro joins Sandra Smith on 'America's Newsroom' to update his father's status.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has tested negative for coronavirus, his son Eduardo told Fox News, contradicting earlier reports that the South American leader had tested positive.
Reports out of Brazil had initially indicated Bolsonaro had tested positive, and his son appeared to confirm this to Fox News earlier Friday, adding that further testing was being done to confirm the diagnosis and the second set of testing was expected later in the day.
However, in a subsequent appearance on "America's Newsroom," Eduardo denied his father had ever tested positive.
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Host Sandra Smith asked Bolsonaro if he could confirm his father had first tested positive for the virus and what had happened in between then.
“I don’t have this information,” he replied. “The information I have is the results that just came up telling that he is negative for coronavirus. I never listened that it was positive in the first exam. This is something that I don’t know. But, uh, everything’s good now.”
Bolsonaro then told Smith, to his knowledge, this was his first test for the virus.
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“I have to get more information about what is going on because together with Bolsonaro, there were other guys, other people in the same team that went to the U.S. So, we are also waiting for the exams about the other guys."
He denied his father was showing any symptoms. “He is okay,” he confirmed.
“They have to see what they are going to do. I think the best thing to do is everybody who was involved there, everybody who was there, should do the tests,” Bolsonaro advised, referring to the Brazilian president’s meeting with President Trump.
“Has there been communication with the White House on this?” asked Smith. Bolsonaro said that the president’s team has “connected” with the White House.
Bolsonaro then told Smith, to his knowledge, this was his first test for the virus.
“I have to get more information about everything -- what is going on. Because, together with President Bolsonaro, there were other guys, other people in the same team that went to the U.S. So, we are also waiting for the exams about the other guys.”He denied his father was showing any symptoms.
“No. He is okay,” he confirmed. However, he said he believed his father was taking extra precautions after an aide that went on the trip tested positive.
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“They have to see what they are going to do. I think the best thing to do is everybody who was involved there, everybody who was there, should do the tests,” Bolsonaro advised, referring to the Brazilian president’s meeting with President Trump.
“Has there been communication with the White House on this?” asked Smith.
Bolsonaro said that the president’s team has “connected” with the White House.
The confusion surrounding the results came just days after Bolsonaro met with President Trump at the U.S. leader's Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
Bolsonaro had been tested after one of his deputies, who was also in attendance at the Florida resort, was diagnosed with COVID-19.
Fabio Wajngarten, the communications secretary for the 64-year-old Brazilian leader who had traveled to Miami for the meeting as well, showed flu-like symptoms and tested positive for the virus early Wednesday.
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The developments also came after Peter Dutton, Australia's minister for home affairs, tested positive after traveling back from Washington D.C., where he met Attorney General William Barr and Ivanka Trump.
Fox News' Joe Shikhman and Julia Musto contributed to this report.