Brazil

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Chinese vaccine 50% effective, reports Sao Paulo lab, but half of Brazilians reject inoculation

  

  Brazilian researchers said on Wednesday the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech is more than 50% effective based on trial data, but again withheld full results at the company's request, raising questions about transparency.

• Thursday, December 24th 2020 - 08:33 UTC

  Sao Paulo state doubles lockdown measures over Xmas and New Year

  

  Brazil's southeast state of Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, said this week it will double down on lockdown measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2020 - 09:35 UTC

  Brazilian financial analysts upgrade growth forecast for 2020

  

  Brazilian financial analysts slightly upgraded their growth forecast for 2020, from a 4.41% drop in gross domestic product (GDP) to a 4.4% drop, the Central Bank of Brazil reported.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2020 - 08:38 UTC

  Brazil's trials indicate Chinese vaccine is effective, according to US media

  

  Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech Ltd's Covid-19 vaccine has shown to be effective in late-stage trials in Brazil, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people involved in the vaccine's development.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2020 - 08:18 UTC

  Workers strike in Argentine ports disrupting wheat millers' operations in Brazil

  

  The prolongation of a workers' strike in the ports of Argentina may disrupt wheat millers' operations in Brazil, especially if the labor action is not called off before the end of the year, industry representatives were quoted in the Brazilian media.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazilian senate approves bill facilitating purchase of rural properties by foreign companies

  

  The Brazilian Senate unexpectedly approved a bill this week to facilitate the purchase and leasing of rural properties in Brazil by foreign nationals or foreign companies. The legislation must be approved by the lower house of Congress before the president can sign it into law.

• Saturday, December 19th 2020 - 09:05 UTC

  Mercedes Benz luxury car production in Brazil will shut down

  

  German automaker Mercedes Benz said this week that it would wind down car production in Brazil, shutting down its small factory dedicated to producing luxury vehicles in the city of Iraccemapolis, costing some 370 jobs.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 09:29 UTC

  Putin, Bolsonaro and Lopez Obrador finally congratulate Joe Biden

  

  Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday congratulated US president-elect Joe Biden on his victory, more than a month after the Nov 3 election.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 09:08 UTC

  Food companies and grocers urge commodity suppliers to refuse soybeans from deforested areas in Brazil

  

  Some of the world’s largest food companies and grocers urged commodity suppliers including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co. to stop trading soybeans associated with deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a savanna that is a hive of biodiversity and one of the country’s most important carbon sinks.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  Bolsonaro administration says Brazil has guaranteed access to 300 million Covid-19 vaccines

  

  The government of President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil has guaranteed access to 300 million vaccines, mainly those developed by Oxford University along with AstraZeneca pharmaceutical and Brazil's Fiocruz foundation, as well as vaccines from the Covax Facility international initiative.