Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, 70, has cancelled all public engagements and will remain on strict home rest throughout July after doctors said recurring bouts of hiccups and vomiting were preventing him from speaking and eating. The decision follows a series of health scares that began on 20 June, when Bolsonaro felt ill during an event in Anápolis, Goiás, cut the trip short and returned to Brasília. Tests carried out the next day indicated a case of viral pneumonia, for which he was treated with antibiotics. In a medical bulletin signed by surgeon Claudio Birolini and cardiologist Leandro Echenique, the physicians said a month of ‘repouso absoluto’ is needed to ensure full recovery from the pneumonia and from a 12-hour abdominal operation Bolsonaro underwent in April to address intestinal adhesions. Planned appearances in Santa Catarina, Rondônia and at Liberal Party meetings in Brasília have been scrapped. Bolsonaro has undergone six abdominal surgeries since being stabbed during the 2018 election campaign. The latest setback comes as he seeks to keep a high profile ahead of expected Supreme Court rulings on investigations into alleged attempts to overturn the 2022 presidential vote.