"We've seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases and clearly there's a concern across many of those countries, but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point," Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's emergencies program, said Friday during a news briefing at the organization's Geneva headquarters. .

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the virus, dismissing it as a "little flu" and attacking stay-at-home orders imposed by governors as a "crime." He is a close ideological ally of Trump. .

Bolsonaro's own press secretary tested positive for the virus in March after attending a gathering with the Brazilian president and Trump at Mar-a-Lago

The incident raised concern about the health of Bolsonaro and Trump at the time, though both leaders have tested negative for the virus.