Will recover soon, says stabbed Brazilian presidential candidate

Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, who was stabbed last week at a political rally, has said he will soon be 100 per cent recovered.

His doctors reported that there has been a "clear" improvement in his condition.

"Quickly, we'll be back at 100 per cent," he said on Sunday in a Twitter post in which he thanked people for the messages of support that have been appearing on the social networks and the many wishes for a fast recovery, Efe news reported.

Bolsonaro expressed optimism regarding his recovery shortly after Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein Hospital, to which he was transferred last Friday after undergoing a surgery the day before in the city of Juiz de Fora, released a statement noting improvements in his condition.

He is having a "clear clinical improvement and in the results of the laboratory exams, without any evidence of infection," doctors said, adding that Bolsonaro remains in intensive care despite the fact that his condition has improved.

The bulletin also reported that Bolsonaro has increased the amount of time that he spends out of bed and moving around his room. On Saturday, the head of the Liberal Social Party (PSL) had spent 30 minutes seated in a easy chair and five minutes walking around.

Bolsonaro was stabbed once in the abdomen by an assailant who was later apprehended, but the single wound resulted in the serious hemorrhaging of a vein, three punctures of his small intestine and an injury to his colon.

Doctors said that he arrived at the hospital in very serious condition and at risk of dying.

He was attacked on September 6 while he was being carried on the shoulders of several people in the crowd on a downtown street in Juiz de Fora, the second-largest city in the state of Minas Gerais.

Bolsonaro has sparked assorted protests for his insistent macho, racist, misogynist and homophobic statements, and he is facing legal proceedings for discrimination and incitement of violence.

Nevertheless, he is leading the public opinion surveys with 22 per cent.

--IANS

pgh/