
President Jair Bolsonaro has told Brazilians to stop whining about Covid-19, as he criticized measures to curb the virus despite a surge in cases and deaths. His comments came a day after Brazil saw a record rise in deaths over a 24-hour period.

The Director of the Butantan Institute on Tuesday contradicted the words of Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, assuring that there is not yet a closed agreement between the Uruguayan government and the Chinese laboratory Sinovac for the purchase of the vaccine against Covid-19. However, the institute affirmed that there is a pre-agreement and talks are still ongoing. Lacalle Pou announced on Saturday at a press conference the purchase of 1.75 million doses from this laboratory.

The states of Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso led Brazilian beef exports in 2020, a record year for the country with total sales of 2,016 million tons. Data from SECEX (the Brazilian foreign-trade secretariat) compiled by ABRAFRIGO (the Brazilian meatpackers association) point out that São Paulo shipments totaled 439,900 tons, or 21.8% of the total, while shipments from Mato Grosso reached 407,700 tons or 20.2% of the total.

The government of Sao Paulo, the largest state in Brazil, confirmed on Monday two cases of people infected by the new strain of coronavirus, the same that has been putting parts of the UK in lockdown since the end of December.

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.

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.

More than 20 months after it was grounded following two deadly crashes, Boeing's 737 MAX returned to the skies on Wednesday with an incident-free commercial flight in Brazil, said AFP journalists on board.

Brazilian voters in 57 cities including 18 state capitals returned to the polls for run-off mayoral elections on Sunday amid a surge in cases of COVID-19 and violence involving assassinations and attacks on candidates.

At least 41 people were killed and 10 injured on Wednesday when a bus and a truck crashed in southeastern Brazil, police said. The bus, which was carrying employees on their way to work at a textile factory, collided with the truck just before 7 am on a motorway outside the town of Taguai, in Sao Paulo state, police said.

Brazil’s national health regulator allowed clinical trials of a Chinese-developed Covid-19 vaccine to resume on Wednesday, two days after suspending them in what critics called a decision tainted by politics.