The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has undergone another test for coronavirus and had his lungs scanned, after local media reported he had symptoms associated with Covid-19.

The president’s office said the test results were expected on Tuesday. According to CNN Brasil, his official events have been cancelled for the day.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the impact of the virus, even as Brazil has suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks, with more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and 65,000 related deaths, according to official data on Monday.

CNN Brasil and newspaper Estado de S Paulo reported that he had symptoms of the disease, including a fever.

Bolsonaro told supporters outside the presidential palace that he had just visited the hospital and been tested.

“I can’t get very close,” he said in comments recorded by Foco do Brasil, a pro-government YouTube channel. “I came from the hospital. I underwent a lung scan. The lung’s clean.”

His office said in a statement that he was at home and “in good health”.

The rightwing populist has often defied local guidelines to wear a mask in public, even after a judge ordered him to do so in late June.

Over the weekend, Bolsonaro attended several events and was in close contact with the US ambassador to Brazil during 4 July celebrations.

The US embassy in Brasilia said via Twitter that Todd Chapman, the ambassador, had lunch with Bolsonaro, five ministers and Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, who is a federal congressman. The ambassador had no symptoms, but would undergo testing and was “taking precautions”, the embassy said.

A photo posted on Twitter by Brazil’s foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, shows Bolsonaro, Chapman and others sitting around a table, not wearing masks.

Bolsonaro tested negative for coronavirus after several aides were diagnosed following a visit to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in March.

CNN Brasil reported that Bolsonaro had begun taking the drugs hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which he touts as Covid-19 treatments despite little proof of their effectiveness.