The main text of the fake news bill, which was approved by 44 votes in favour and 32 against, may still be altered by amendments to be voted separately.

The country's president has shunned social distancing, calling it a job-killing measure more dangerous than the virus itself.

Bolsonaro's comments come as his supporters and detractors gathered in cities across the country, in a stark symbol of the polarization in Latin America's largest country.

Second only to the United States in both cases and deaths, Brazil has struggled with a relentless spread of the virus across the country.

João Pedro Matos Pinto was one of more than 600 people killed by police in the state of Rio de Janeiro in the first months of this year.

Casting doubt on COVID-19 statistics has been a mainstay in far-right circles and Bolsonaro has amplified that claim.

Worldwide, at least 6.9 million people have been infected by the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University, whose aggregated tally has become the main worldwide reference for monitoring the disease.

Bolsonaro has played down the dangers of the pandemic, replaced medical experts in the Health Ministry with military officials and argued against state lockdowns to fight the virus, hobbling the country's public health response.

With more than 34,000 lives lost, the pandemic has killed more people in Brazil than anywhere outside of the United States and United Kingdom.

State and local authorities that have supported quarantining measures are loosening restrictions as hunger grows and public finances, shaky in the best of times, plummet deep into the red.