A far-right COVID-19 denier who aided Bolsonaro's rise to power in Brazil has died of the virus

• A far-right COVID-19 denier who aided Jair Bolsonaro's rise to power has died of the virus.
• Family members confirmed on Tuesday that Olavo de Carvalho was sick with COVID-19.

A far-right COVID-19 denier who helped Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rise to power has died after being sickened by the virus, according to family members.

"With great regret, the family of Professor Olavo de Carvalho communicates the news of his death on the night of January 24, in Richmond, Virginia, where he was hospitalized," relatives wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

His daughter, Heloisa de Carvalho Martin Arribas, confirmed that he died from contracting the virus.

Carvalho — an influential Brazilian right-wing pundit and conspiracy theorist — downplayed the pandemic, once claiming that it "simply doesn't exist."

In April 2020, Carvalho called the west "full of perfect idiots," and said only "a perfect idiot can imagine that the spread of the Chinese virus in the world was an accident."

On Tuesday, his daughter told the Veja magazine that Carvalho "has blood on his hands" and blamed Brazil's delay in purchasing vaccines on his "denialist ideas" and the "fake news" he spread.

Brazil has had the second-most COVID-19 deaths of any nation since the pandemic started, behind only the US, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Carvalho also acted as a mentor for Bolsonaro and fired up Brazil's far-right voters before Bolsonaro's election, according to the Guardian,

"Olavo was a giant in the fight for freedom and a beacon for millions of Brazilians. His example and his teachings will mark us forever," Bolsonaro tweeted after Carvalho's death.

Carvalho was an "uncompromising defender of freedom and prolific writer," Brazil's embassy in the US said in a statement.

Brazil's ambassador to the US called Carvalho's death "an immeasurable loss for Brazil and all who knew him."

"Through his vast work he leaves an everlasting legacy," Nestor Forster Jr. wrote on Twitter.