Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has said the spread of coronavirus in Brazil threatens his country's success in containing the virus. Mr Benítez said more than half of Paraguay's 563 cases were people who had entered from neighbouring Brazil.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday declared gyms and hair salons as essential services that can stay open through the new coronavirus outbreak, easing measures to control the disease despite new cases and deaths surging in the country.
Brazil, the hardest-hit Latin American country in the coronavirus pandemic, has surpassed 11,000 deaths, according to figures released on Sunday by the Ministry of Health.
The governor of Sao Paulo, the Brazilian state at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America, said on Friday he was extending stay-at-home measures until May 31, ignoring opposition from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil's Real firmed for the first time this week, bouncing from last session's all-time lows, while most other Latin American currencies also strengthened on Friday on signs of easing tensions between the United States and China.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released on Friday, a worrying trend after the devastation caused by record fires last year.
Auto production in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America's top producers, plunged by an unprecedented 99% in April as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with the two countries building a total of just 5,569 vehicles.
The biggest threat to Brazil's ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro effectively ruled out raising gasoline taxes on Thursday, a blow to the ethanol industry which had asked for a gasoline tax hike to boost its competitiveness amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Brazilian beef exports in 2020 will likely set a new record in terms of volume and value despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, Antônio Camardelli, president of beef group Abiec, said on Thursday.