Brazil

France suspended all flights from Brazil on Tuesday amid mounting fears over the particularly contagious Covid variant that has been sweeping the South American country.

"We note that the situation is getting worse and so we have decided to suspend all flights between Brazil and France until further notice," Castex said, drawing scattered applause from lawmakers.

Castex noted that travelers from Brazil already needed to test negative for the virus before their departure and upon arrival in France, and also quarantine for 10 days.

Brazil recorded 3,733 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, totaling this April 7th 341,097 victims since the beginning of the pandemic. After the record of deaths registered the previous day, this is the third worst mark so far. As a result, the moving average of deaths in the country in the last 7 days was 2,744. Compared to the average of 14 days ago, the variation was + 21%, indicating an upward trend in deaths from the disease.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, from the University of Washington, in the United States, projects one hundred thousand deaths from Covid-19 in Brazil in April alone. According to Ethel Maciel, an epidemiologist and professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes), if the current pace is maintained, Brazil may surpass the United States in absolute numbers of deaths in August. The moving average of deaths exceeded 3,000 for the second time and reached 3,013, according to data from the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass).

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will replace the commanders of the country's army, navy and air force, the defense ministry said Tuesday. Some local media, including the Folha de Sao Paulo daily, reported that the military chiefs had quit in protest at the unexpected ministerial reshuffle. The president named Carlos Alberto Franco Franca as the new foreign minister after Araujo tendered his resignation earlier in the day.

According to a report of the consortium of Brazilian media companies consortium released on March 29 3,668 deaths by Covid-19, a new daily record. The country had, since the beginning of the pandemic 317,936 deaths.

The polemic Brazilian Foreign Policy Ministry Ernesto Araújo presented his resignation Monday to the President Jair Bolsonaro.

In the Brazilian Congress, the assessment is that the minister's performance isolated Brazil in the international scenario and hindered the obtaining of vaccine doses against Covid-19.

Mr. Araújo adopted in his administration the same principles as the foreign policy of former US President Donald Trump. This stance generated friction with important trading partners, such as China, the main destination for Brazilian exports, as well as the largest producer of vaccine supplies in the world.

In just 24 hours, 3,650 deaths linked to the disease were officially registered Friday, according to data from the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass). The previous record had been registered last on March 23rd, with 3,251 lives lost in 24 hours.

With the new balance, the total number of victims of the disease in Brazil is 307,112. The mortality rate per group of 100,000 inhabitants rose to 146.1 in Brazil, the 18th highest in the world, when disregarding the dwarf countries San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra, according to a Johns Hopkins University survey.

The number of deaths in Brazil by Covid-19 passed 300,000 on Wednesday, according to reporting by the consortium of Brazilian media companies. The mark comes at the worst moment of the pandemic in the country, with more restrictive measures in several states and with the federal government facing harsh criticism for mismanagement of the health crisis.

Also on Tuesday, President Jair Bolsonaro made a televised statement to talk about his government's actions to combat the pandemic, but he lied by extolling all he did in an attempt to secure the purchase of vaccines. In the speech, Bolsonaro defended immunisation and said that "2021 will be the year of the vaccination of Brazilians", a very different tone from that adopted in other pronouncements, where he compared the virus to a "little flu".

By 3 votes to 2, the Second Panel of the Brazilian Supreme Court declared in a trial that former federal judge Sergio Moro acted with partiality in sentencing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the case of the triplex of Guaruja.
The Supreme Court decision nullifies the triplex case, which will need to start over.

The Brazilian government signed a contract with Pfizer for the purchase of 100 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

According to the schedule released by the Ministry of Health, the jabs are to be delivered between April and September.

President Jair Bolsonaro announced on Monday evening that Dr Marcelo Queiroga will be the new Minister of Health, replacing Eduardo Pazuello. The exchange takes place at the worst moment of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, with records of daily deaths and health systems in several collapsing states. Queiroga will be the fourth Minister of Health since the beginning of the pandemic a year ago.

Bolsonaro announced the new Minister during a conversation with supporters at the door of the Palácio da Alvorada.

Last year, Pazuello's predecessors, doctors Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, left office because they disagreed with Bolsonaro's policy on treating the pandemic.

On Monday afternoon, Pazuello held a press conference to announce the purchase of 138 million doses of vaccine against covid-19 and confirmed that the president was in talks to replace him in the post.

The Civil Police closed a luxury casino in São Paulo in the early hours of Sunday and arrested 200 people. In addition to being illegal, the establishment disrespected the state decree that prohibits parties and agglomerations during the pandemic.

The Flamengo soccer player, Gabriel_Barbosa (Gabigol) was among the detained.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health signed on Friday a contract to receive 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Institute.

According to a federal law sanctioned at the beginning of the pandemic last year, Anvisa has 72 hours to decide whether or not to validate the registration of a Covid-19 vaccine granted by one of the national health agencies of the United States, the European Union, Japan and China - Sputnik was approved in Russia and also in Argentina.

The goverment of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, announced that football matches and competitions are suspended from March 15th until, initially, March 30th. Clubs and the local football federation are considering to host their games in the neighbouring state of Rio de Janeiro.

With the growing increase in the number of new inpatients, the state has 87.6% occupation of intensive care beds dedicated to the disease, while in Greater São Paulo this rate is 86.7%.

Brazil has recorded 2,286 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) said on Wednesday 10. This is the highest number of deaths recorded in one day since the beginning of the epidemic, and continues the rampant rise of the disease throughout the Brazilian territory.

With this, the country accumulates 270,656 victims of the Covid-19 and 11,202,305 cases.

Justice Edson Fachin of the Federal Supreme Court overturned on Monday 8 all the condemnations imposed on former President Lula during the Operation Car Wash (Operação Lava Jato). According to Fachin, the Federal Justice of Paraná, responsible for the convictions at first instance, is incompetent to judge the Guarujá triplex, the Atibaia site and the Lula Institute cases.

In 2017, the then judge Sergio Moro sentenced Lula to 9 years and 6 months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering in the case of a triplex flat. Lula, however, denies that he benefited from the flat and is trying to prove in court the suspicion of Moro - who a few years later became Minister of Justice and Public Safety in the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

With the decision, the cases will be analyzed by the Federal Court of the Federal District, which will have the autonomy to decide whether to maintain the convictions already imposed or send the cases to the criminal investigation stage.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticized social isolation measures after the country recorded more than 1,900 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours. Bolsonaro has told Brazilians to "stop whining" and asked, "You will be crying until when?" The president further called those pushing for more vaccines "idiots".

Brazil is facing its worst phase of the pandemic yet, leaving its health system in crisis, and, in response, some cities and states have imposed their own restrictions.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health decided on Wednesday to sign contracts for the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19 from Pfizer and Janssen laboratories. The contracts are being drafted and must be signed by the beginning of next week, with a determination of the quantity of doses to be delivered.

The country is experiencing the most serious moment of the pandemic, with reports of collapse in the health system in different states and successive records of deaths by Covid-19, which has increased criticism of the folder for the delay in negotiations to obtain vaccines against the disease.

According to a report of the consortium of Brazilian media companies consortium released on March 2, the country recorded 1,726 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours - a record since the pandemic began - bringing the total to 257,562 deaths since its inception.

The moving average of deaths in Brazil in the last 7 days reached 1,274. The variation was 23% compared to the average 14 days ago, indicating an upward trend in deaths from the disease.

According to a report of the consortium of Brazilian media companies consortium released on February 24, Brazil exceeded the mark of 250 thousand deaths due to Covid-19.

The death toll was reached amid the lack of a vaccination campaign and with new variants circulating. Experts cite the fast pace of transmission and deaths due to the lack of isolation measures and restrictions imposed by the State.

Brazilian markets plunged on Monday after President Jair Bolsonaro removed the head of state-controlled oil company, the latest sign that his government is rolling back market-friendly policy initiatives to shore up his sinking popularity.

Bolsonaro's decision on Friday to replace the University of Chicago-educated economist at the helm of Petroleo Brasileiro SA after a feud over fuel prices surprised even his inner political circle, according to two government officials familiar with the episode.

Bolsonaro's popularity is dropping to near record lows after a program of cash handouts expired in December, with an MDA poll published Monday showing his approval rating fell 8 percentage points to 32.9% over the past four months.

The Brumadinho dam, owned by Vale, contained waste from an iron ore mine but gave way, unleashing a sea of mud which engulfed a staff canteen, offices and farms, killing 270 people. The company will pay $7 billion to the victim's families.

After the 2019 Brumadinho disaster, Brazilian prosecutors charged 16 people, including Vale's ex-president Fabio Schvartsman, with intentional homicide and environmental offences, alleging they hid the risk of a dam collapse.

Vale said it would pay both "socio-economic" and "socio-environmental" reparations, funding projects to repair the surrounding environment, including a massive clean-up of the Paraopeba river.

The Brazilian government will pay the Serum Institute in India more than twice as much as European Union have earmarked for AstraZeneca vaccines. In a statement at the beginning of January, Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation) confirmed the negotiation and indicated that "the institute will offer the ready vaccines to the market for US$5.25 each".

In recent weeks, an alleged error by the Belgian Minister for the Budget has allowed the prices of different doses of vaccines to be revealed to the European public, with a value of US$2.16 for AstraZeneca doses.

Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, announced that the 2020 Carnaval would not be held in July on Thursday, as it seems the immunisation campaign against Covid-19 will be delayed in the city.

"This celebration requires a great deal of preparation on the part of public bodies and of samba associations and institutions. Something impossible to do at that moment. Thus, I would like to inform you that we will not have Carnaval in the middle of the year in 2021", said Paes.

When it deliberated on the postponement to July, the Independent League of Samba Schools (Liesa) made the parades conditional on the immunisation campaign against Covid-19.

Venezuela had announced on January 14 that in light of the humanitarian crisis provoked by a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases in Amazonas, it would send 130,000 litres of oxygen to support the struggling public health system. In addition to the oxygen tanks, the Venezuelan government also formed a brigade with 107 Brazilian and Venezuelan doctors, graduates of the Salvador Allende Latin American School of Medicine in Caracas, to help combat the pandemic in the State.

Brazil has been one of the worst impacted countries during the pandemic, which progressive movements have largely attributed to the mismanagement of the public health crisis by the federal government under far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Dozens of Covid-19 patients in Manaus, the Amazon rainforest's biggest city, will be flown out of state as the local health system collapses, authorities announced Thursday as dwindling stocks of oxygen tanks meant some people were starting to die breathless at home.

"Due to the strong impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consumption of oxygen in the city increased exponentially over the last few days in comparison with a volume that was already extremely high," White Martins said in an emailed statement to Associate Press.

Brazilian influencers are running a crowdfunding campaign to delivery oxygen tanks to the city.

The consortium of Brazilian media companies, compiling data from state health authorities, announced Wednesday the country had 1,283 new deaths and 61,966 positive diagnoses for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of infected to 8,257,459 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The carmaker justifies the decision to no longer manufacture cars in Brazil as part of the plan to focus on profitable products and obtain a corporate EBIT margin of 8% to generate "sustainable cash flow". These efforts have improved results over the past four quarters. Still, the continued unfavourable economic environment and the additional pressure caused by the pandemic have made it clear that much more is needed to create a sustainable and profitable future," said Lyle Watters, president of Ford South America.

After having had a fever and pain in the body and head, the Brazilian Vice-President Hamilton Mourão has tested positive for Covid-19, his office confirmed on Sunday.

Mourão will "remain in isolation at the official residence of Jaburu."

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo Crivella, was arrested this morning in a joint operation by the MP-RJ (Rio de Janeiro Public Prosecutor's Office) and the Civil Police.

The action that led to Crivella's arrest is an unfolding of Operation Hades, launched in March, which investigates a supposed bribe payment scheme for the release of contracts from Rio's City Hall, called the "HQ of the Bribe".

Crivella gave a quick statement to journalists. "I was the mayor who most fought corruption in Rio de Janeiro's City Hall," he said, adding that he now expects "justice."