The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvadecided this Saturday to permanently suspend his trip to China until he recovers from pneumonia.

“On medical recommendation, President Lula has decided to postpone his trip to China. The postponement has already been communicated to the Chinese authorities with the reiteration of the desire to schedule the visit on a new date,” the government said in a statement.

As reported, the Brazilian president was diagnosed with “bacterial and viral bronchial pneumonia due to influenza A”.

Lula, 77, had already anticipated on Friday that he would postpone his trip to the Asian giant by a day, originally scheduled for this Saturday, due to “mild pneumonia”.

The Brazilian president went to hospital on Thursday “with flu symptoms” after a busy schedule that took him to the states of Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro this week.

After a clinical evaluation, he was diagnosed with “Influenza A bacterial and viral bronchial pneumonia” and began treatment with antibiotics.

At first, the trip to China was maintained, but after a “reassessment” carried out this Saturday and while presenting a “clinical improvement”, the presidential medical service recommended postponing it “until the end of the viral transmission cycle”.

The head of state intended to travel to China, Brazil’s main trading partner since 2009, with several of his ministers and a record delegation of 240 businessmen and nearly fifty members of Congress.

The state visit included events in Beijing and Shanghai.

Among the scheduled events was a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and an economic forum with between 400 and 500 businessmen from both countries.

The meeting with Xi was expected to sign about 20 agreements in trade, phytosanitary protocols, technology, development, energy transition and other areas of cooperation under the bilateral strategic partnership.

Upon his return to Brazil, Lula had scheduled a stopover in the United Arab Emirates for March 31, where he would have held meetings with the local authorities, but everything suggests that he was also canceled in front of the Brazilian sovereign’s health personnel.