RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has canceled his trip to China after contracting pneumonia, the presidential palace said on Saturday.

Lula, 77, was admitted to a hospital in the capital of Brasilia with flu-like symptoms and was diagnosed with “bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia due to influenza A,” the palace said in a statement, quoting a medical note signed by Dr. Ana Helena Germoglio.

The leftist leader’s health was reassessed on Saturday and, despite improvement, he was advised to “postpone the trip to China until the cycle of viral transmission ends,” the medic …