A judge in Brazil has ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to wear a protective mask when he is in public spaces in the capital, Brasilia, and the surrounding federal district. The far-right president has been criticised for belittling the risk posed by coronavirus.

He dismissed it as “a little cold” at the start of the pandemic. Brazil has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases and Covid-related fatalities in the world after the US. There are more than 1.1m confirmed cases of coronavirus in Brazil and more than 51,000 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Despite these high figures, President Bolsonaro has repeatedly appeared in public without a mask while greeting his supporters.(BBC)…[+]