'마스크 기피' 브라질 대통령 코로나19 양성판정…"몸상태 좋다"

After months of downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19,... Brazil's outspoken president has tested positive for the virus.
This comes as the South American nation is seeing tens of thousands of new infections each day.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
On Monday,... Brazil saw over 21-thousand COVID-19 infections in the span of just 24 hours.
Among them,... the country's President Jair Bolsonaro.
Speaking on Brazilian TV on Tuesday,... Bolsonaro announced the result of his test,... which he took the previous day.
He credited the drug hydroxychloroquine for his well-being on Tuesday,... saying he's feeling 'very well',... and that the effect of the antimalarial drug was immediate.
His infection comes as he has previously downplayed the seriousness of the virus,... and was often seen in public without a mask,... before a federal judge ordered him to wear one or be fined.
After his positive test,... he acknowledged the life-threatening risk posed by the virus.
This comes just days after he attended a July 4th commemoration event with the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman.
Photos from the event show Bolsonaro not wearing a mask, or observing social distancing guidelines.
The U.S. ambassador and his wife have since tested negative for COVID-19,... according to a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Brazil.
Despite his positive test result, Bolsonaro on Tuesday emphasized that his priority is still to kickstart Brazil's flagging economy.
Brazil currently has the second most COVID-19 cases in the world at over 1-point-6 million,... only trailing the United States.
The country has also seen over 65-thousand deaths so far.
While the U.S. accounted for 75-percent of COVID-19 cases in the Americas just two months ago,... Latin America and the Caribbean now account for half of all cases in the region,... with no sign of the spread slowing down soon.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.