Brazilian mayor, elected while in a COVID-19 coma, dies

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Vilela’s surprise election from his hospital bed made international headlines. It was a vivid example of the reach of the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil, which has the world’s worst COVID-19 death toll outside the United States. Nearly 205,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Brazil, with 8.2 million people infected with the virus.

A former senator from the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement party, Vilela tested positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 20. A week later, he arrived at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital, and has spent most of his time there either intubated, or in an induced coma.

In November, he was elected mayor of Goiânia, a city of 1.5 million people in central Brazil. He won 52.6% of the vote.

“The family is providing the transfer of the body from São Paulo to Goiás and he must be buried in Jataí, his native land,” the Instagram statement said.