SAO PAULO (AP) A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the Senate on Thursday to investigate the governments handling of the coronavirus crisis and the full court ruled that churches can be barred from reopening during the pandemic, threatening to further strain tensions between President Jair Bolsonaro and the judiciary.

The order by Justice Luis Roberto Barroso for a Senate probe came only minutes after the whole court upheld the power of local authorities to prevent churches and other houses of worship from opening.

Bolsonaro has downplayed the threat of the coronavirus while arguing that the economic and emotional impacts of shutdowns would harm more Brazilians than the pandemic. He has at times bristled at the checks and balances from other branches of government, and has repeatedly criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the power of governors and mayors to establish restrictions on economic and personal activity during the pandemic. Last year, he attended protests against the court.

The conservative president, a proud Christian who has the support of some of the countrys main evangelical leaders, has opposed locally imposed lockdowns and other restrictions that health experts have said were sorely needed to halt the virus spread. In recent weeks, Brazil has become the epicenter of the pandemic crisis, accounting for more than one-quarter of the worlds deaths from COVID-19.

The inquiry will call scientists from all over Brazil to testify and show how irresponsible the presidents statements were. It will get tougher for him. Public opinion will be heard at the Senate, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. It was unavoidable. The time came for the political system to react.