These changes appear to put several army generals closer to Bolsonaro in more strategic positions, following several other replacements at the top of Brazil’s federal government this month.

On Saturday, the country’s daily death toll surpassed 3,000 for second day in a row, and on Thursday night, Brazil’s Health Ministry reported the gruesome figure of more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases confirmed in a single day — the country’s highest such figure since the pandemic began.

But critics derided the 3-minute speech as a half-hearted attempt at a public-relations rescue on a day where Brazil set its own record for most coronavirus deaths recorded in a single day.

Bolsonaro has refused to endorse lockdown measures, citing the health of the economy and the personal liberty of citizens. For now, most restrictions on gatherings have been put in place by individual state governments; Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Minas Gerais are among the states that have implemented nightly curfews. A recent lawsuit filed by the Bolsonaro administration to lift those restrictions was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Calls for him to change tactics are growing louder. More than 500 influential finance individuals last month published an open letter pleading for more efficient containment measures so that the country’s economy can recover.

But Bolsonaro so far remains unwilling to entertain challenges to his approach toward the virus — an attitude underscored on Monday by his selection of familiar faces for top ministerial positions. As he said last week during an official government ceremony on education, “We must fight against the virus and not against the President.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.