17:45

Brazil’s confirmed coronavirus cases jumped from 34 on Tuesday to 52 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, as fears about its spread in South America’s biggest country grew.

São Paulo state has the largest number of cases, with 30, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 13. And 907 suspected cases are still being investigated. The president Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary Fabio Wajngarten is one of them, according to the columnist Monica Bergamo. He was with Bolsonaro on last weekend’s US trip during which the Brazilian president dined with Donald Trump. Wajngarten denied the report in a tweet shortly after.

According to a ministry tweet, the health minister, Henrique Mandetta, told Congress:

We told all the health secretaries in the states: organise your hospital networks. It’s time to review contingency plans.

Congress agreed $1bn to fight the virus, he said. The government is evaluating more restrictive measures, such as stimulating people to work from home or changing the rules on workers’ sick days.

An analysis by the Pensi Institute, reported by the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper’s site, said that once Brazil has passed the 50 cases mark, it could reach 4,000 cases in 15 days and 30,000 cases within three weeks. The University of São Paulo suspended geography lessons after a student tested positive for the virus.

The education minister, Abraham Weintraub, said in a video schools and universities had been told to prepare plans for remote classes should they prove necessary. “When I go out in the car, I hope I don’t hit anything, but I put on the safety belt,” he tweeted.

But supporters of Bolsonaro, who has called the virus “oversized” insisted pro-government, anti-Congress demonstrations will go ahead on 15 March. “Let’s go to the streets this Sunday,” tweeted Central Bank economist Renan Leal, attacking coronavirus “hysteria”.