Brazil
At the end of Tuesday night, Atletico-GO managed to appeal to play against Flamengo the four players who tested positive for Covid-19
The club claims that the players are in the final stages of infection, have already complied with the quarantine protocol, and "no longer have the potential for disease transmission".
Argentinean President Alberto Fernández announced Wednesday that the private laboratory AstraZeneca would begin to produce in Argentina and Mexico a vaccine against the coronavirus that is developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
The president explained the goal is "to produce between 150 and 250 million vaccines for all of Latin America -except for Brazil- that will be available by the first half of 2021."
Fernández stated, "Latin American production will be in charge of Argentina and Mexico, and that will allow timely and sufficient access to potential vaccine for all countries in the region."
A sample of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, authorities said Thursday, the latest in a series of reports of contaminated imported food products.
The coronavirus was detected Wednesday on a surface sample taken from a batch of chicken wings during screening of imported frozen food in Longgang district of Shenzhen, the municipal government said in a statement. Officials did not name the brand.
São Paulo state governor, João Doria, announced Wednesday that he tested positive for Covid-19. He is the 11th governor to test positive for the disease in Brazil.
Doria, who is 62 years old, and therefore part of the group at risk for the disease, said she has no symptoms and feels well.
Brazil’s Parana state announced the intention to locally produce the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. The Parana Technology Institute (Tecpar) would be responsible for tests and later the production of the Russian vaccine.
An agreement should be signed by the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Júnior, and by the Russian ambassador, Sergey Akopov, this Wednesday.
Tecpar’s spokesman João Pedro Schonarth stated earlier Tuesday, "This signature of the Government of Paraná and Russia is important for the exchange to be made possible. Each step at its proper time. We cannot skip steps. We cannot make leaps when dealing with an extremely serious matter"
The announcement took Brazil’s regulators and health experts by surprise, with some raising doubts about the institute’s capacity to produce large volumes of a new vaccine from scratch.
The first Brazilian League matchday game between Goiás and São Paulo was postponed minutes before the planned kickoff after ten players from Goiás tested positive for Covid-19.
Test results were announced early Sunday morning when Goiás requested the postponement to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), but the decision only happened when both teams were lined up for the match.
Besides the ten players that tested positive Sunday, Goiás has three other confirmed cases of Covid-19 -- all of them already in quarantine.
Brazil has now a death toll of 100,240 since the beginning of the outbreak. The number was announced Saturday by the consortium of Brazilian media companies, with data from state health authorities.
Brazil is also close to the 3 million Covid-19 infections, with 2,988,796 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced Wednesday 1,437 new deaths from Covid-19 across the country in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 97,256 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Ministry also announced 57,152 new infections -- with a total of 2,859,073 confirmed cases.
The mayor of the Brazilian city of Itajaí, Volnei Morastoni, said Monday the city would offer rectal ozone therapy for patients with Covid-19.
The city already provides ivermectin and camphor as preventive options. Also, the antibiotic azithromycin is offered as a treatment for infected patients.
According to the mayor, who is also a doctor, ozone should be applied to the anus of symptomatic patients of Covid-19, a few minutes a day, in different sessions. The statement was broadcast during a Facebook Live from the city hall.
"It is a simple, quick application, of two, three minutes a day. It will probably be a rectal application, which is very easy, very fast, [with] a thin catheter and this gives an excellent result, [...] it helps very much in the positive cases of coronavirus "
The treatment has no proven effectiveness against the new coronavirus.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that it accounted for 1,154 new deaths from Covid-19 across the country in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 95,819 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country also crossed the mark of 2.8 million infected cases, as the Ministry announced 51,603 new infections -- with a total of 2,801,921 confirmed cases.
WhatsApp added a new feature that makes it easier for users to verify whether the assertions made in forwarded messages they have received on the app are true. The new feature, called "Search the Web" works by allowing users to upload the message via their browser without WhatsApp ever seeing the message itself.
"Search the web" is being rolled out starting today in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and US for those on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS and WhatsApp Web.
Despite still having a daily average of more than 1,000 deaths by Covid-19, the Brazilian government decided to reopen its borders to foreign visitors arriving by plane. Jair Bolsonaro signed, this Wednesday, an ordinance revoking the ban that was in place since the end of March.
The ordinance states, "The foreign passenger on a visit to the country for a short stay, of up to ninety days, must present to the transport company, before boarding, proof of purchase of health insurance valid in Brazil and with coverage for the entire period of the trip, under penalty of being prevented from entering national territory by the migratory authority due to provocation by the health authority ".
Brazil's first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, tested positive for Covid-19, the Brazilian Government announced Thursday.
In a statement, the Presidency also said that Michelle's health is good and that she will follow "all established protocols" for treating the disease.
The first lady's test came back positive days after President Jair Bolsonaro announced that he had been cured of the disease.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced Wednesday that it accounted for 1,595 new deaths from Covid-19 across the country in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 90,134 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country also crossed the milestone of 2.5 million infected cases, as the Ministry announced 69,074 new infections -- with a total of 2,552,265 confirmed cases.
The Guardian reports that the farm "Estrela do Aripuanã" in Mato Grosso would have used JBS transport services to transfer cattle to another 'clean record' property, which later supplied two company's slaughterhouses. The practice it is known as 'cattle triangulation'.
The investigation, joint initiative by Repórter Brasil, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian, found photographic evidence of the cattle being transported from "Estrela do Aripuanã", already fined by Ibama for illegal deforestation, to another farm.
JBS said in a statement that "The company clarifies that the logistics and transportation service provided and executed, independently, must meet the same sustainability policies as the company, including blocking farms that do not comply with these policies".
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was denounced Sunday for crimes against humanity and genocide at the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague. The initiative is led by UNISaúde, a coalition of entities representing more than one million health workers in Brazil.
UNISaúde accuses the Brazilian president of "serious and deadly failures" in conducting the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. "In the understanding of the coalition, there are indications that Bolsonaro committed a crime against humanity during his administration in the face of the pandemic, by adopting negligent and irresponsible actions, which contributed to the more than 80 thousand deaths in the country"
According to Marcio Monzane, regional secretary UNI Americas: "The Bolsonaro government should be blamed for its insensitive action in the face of the pandemic and for refusing to protect Brazilian health workers as well as the Brazilian population, which he promised to defend when he became president,"
The Rio Janeiro government announced Saturday that the New Year's Eve party in the city is canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The statement was made by Riotur, a tourism company for the city. In 2019, 2.9 million people attended the party in Copacabana beach.
Riotur informed that the celebration "is not feasible in this pandemic scenario, without the existence of a vaccine". In addition, the municipal government "continues to focus efforts to save lives and control the pandemic".
The São Paulo Carnaval of 2021 was officially postponed. Bruno Covas (PSDB), mayor of São Paulo, made the announcement at a press conference at Palácio dos Bandeirantes on Friday.
Despite not having a new date confirmed, the event should happen from May of next year.
Formula 1 decided to remove the Brazilian, Mexican and US races from the 2020 calendar. The reasons for the decision were the tight schedule and, mainly, the Covid-19 outbreak.
The three countries currently have some of the worst infection rates in the world. The US Grand Prix, in Austin, Texas, would be held on October 23. A week later, Formula 1 would travel to Mexico City. The Brazilian race, in São Paulo, was initially scheduled for November 15.
A new study concluded that among patients hospitalised with mild-to-moderate Covid-19, the use of hydroxychloroquine did not improve clinical status at 15 days as compared with standard care. The study was conducted by Brazilian researchers and published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
President Jair Bolsonaro advocates the drug as a form of treatment for Covid-19.