On Tuesday it was announced that 615 people had died of Covid-19 in Brazil in 24 hours - the highest death toll for a single day anywhere in the southern hemisphere.

Doria has imposed a state-wide quarantine to slow the virus; Bolsonaro wants only the most vulnerable to stay at home and is keen for people to return to work.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the threat of Covid-19 and, last month, he controversially joined an anti-lockdown rally where he was seen coughing without covering his mouth.

This has put Doria on a collision course with Bolsonaro. "We have two viruses to combat, coronavirus and Bolsonaro virus," Doria told the BBC's South America correspondent Katy Watson.