Brazil’s hapless president Jair Bolsonaro lifts DWARF in the air after mistaking him for a child

BRAZILIAN president Jair Bolsonaro has been filmed lifting a dwarf into the air after mistaking the man for a child.

The incident occurred during a visit to the city of Aracaju, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Sergipe, earlier this week.

In the footage, Bolsonaro, flanked by security guards, can be seen picking up the dwarf, who is wearing a mask, into the air.

A woman in the background can be heard asking: “Is that a child?”

The dwarf is then put down on the ground and Bolsonaro moves on surrounded by a crowd.

The video, shared on twitter by news outlet Gstv, has been seen 1.7 million times and received over 1,900 comments, many from social media users poking fun at the president.

One wrote: "The best is the moment that you see him realise oh sh*t its a dwarf.

"His face is priceless!”

Another added: “Damn masks. You can't even recognise family members, who can tell if a dwarf is a child or not.”

The incident comes as Bolsonaro faces growing pressure over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil.

He initially sought to play down the virus as a "little flu", though has now been pictured a number of times wearing a face mask when out in public.

He has previously called on Brazil's regional governors to lift lockdowns in their states, saying that the measures were "suffocating" the country's economy.

He has also publicly advocated the use of a number of unproven – and, in some cases, potentially dangerous – drugs to treat coronavirus.

Brazil has now recorded almost 3.5million coronavirus cases, placing it second globally only to the United States.

It has seen at least 111,443 people die, meaning it accounts for 14.0 percent of the global death toll despite having only 2.7 percent of the world's population.

Bolsonaro has also lost two health ministers since the beginning of the pandemic.

The first, Luiz Mandetta, was fired in April amid disagreements over the need for social isolation measures, which Bolsonaro claimed were unnecessary.

The second, Nelson Teich, a qualified physician, resigned in May, reportedly over further disagreements with Bolsonaro about the government's approach.

In a statement following the resignation, Teich said simply: “Life is made of choices and today I chose to leave.

“It’s not easy to be at the front of a ministry like this at such a difficult period.”

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