BRAZIL’S far-right President Jair Bolsonaro faced calls to resign as mass protests swept more than 200 cities demanding his impeachment over the country’s coronavirus crisis.

He has been accused of “genocide” by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over his reckless handling of the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen more than 459,000 people die.

The former army captain is currently under investigation by a special senate commission which is evaluating his response to the outbreak, including actions to block regional action to prevent the spread of the disease and the promotion of unproven treatments.

Demands for his impeachment are supported by 57 per cent of the population, according to a Power Data survey released on Friday.

It covered 462 municipalities of the 27 Brazilian states and collected data from 2,500 interviews from May 24-26.

“This is the first survey on Bolsonaro’s impeachment evaluation conducted after the installation of the ICC (Parliamentary Investigation Commission) of Covid-19 in the Senate,” the pollsters said.

But the chances of the investigation leading to impeachment are believed to be slim given the balance of the Brazilian Congress which is not likely to back such a move.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll after the United States and has registered 16.4 million total cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The South American country is reporting about 66,000 new Covid-19 cases a day — more than the whole of Europe.

Protesters laid thousands of crosses in memory of those who died as trade unionists and others demanded Mr Bolsonaro’s resignation and more vaccines, with just 10 per cent of the population having received two doses.

They are angered at delays and a refusal to buy 100 million Chinese vaccines which Dr Dimas Covas told the Senate committee on Thursday had prevented Brazil from becoming the first country in the world to start vaccinating its population.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters in the city of Recife in northeastern Brazil, according to local media.

Lula’s return to politics has unsettled the president, with the popular former trade union leader set to challenge him in next year’s presidential elections after restrictions on his standing were lifted because trumped-up corruption convictions, which stopped him running last time, have been quashed.