Just a day after Brazil saw a record spike in coronavirus cases, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said that quarantine measures need to be relaxed or the country’s economy could collapse.

“A problem that increasingly worries us… the issue of unemployment, the issue of the economy no longer working. We can’t let the side effect of the fight against the virus be more harmful than the disease itself,” Bolsonaro said during a speech at the Supreme Court today.

“We need to save the economy because the economy is life,” Bolsonaro added.

Guedes warned that the economy could be headed toward a “total collapse.”

“The economy is beginning to collapse. We don’t want to turn into a Venezuela,” the Economy minister said.

Where the numbers stand: Yesterday, the Health Ministry of Brazil reported that the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country rose by a record 10,503 to 125,218 in 24 hours. The death toll also rose by a record 615 to 8,536.

Brazil currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Latin America.

Bolsonaro has faced criticism for downplaying the threat of the virus. He has repeatedly attended large political rallies calling for an end to quarantine measures in the country.