Federal government of Brazil
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.
Brazil's Health Ministry announced the country had 1,179 Covid-19 confirmed deaths in the last day, an all-time high. Since the pandemic started, the South American country death toll is 17,971, out of 271,628 people who have tested positive for the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering a travel ban: “Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter at the start of a cabinet meeting this Tuesday. “I don’t want people coming in here and infecting our people.”
Nelson Teich, Brazilian Health Minister, offered his resignation to President Jair Bolsonaro this Friday.
Mr Teich succeeded Luiz Henrique Mandetta, fired by Jair Bolsonaro after a series of disagreements over government efforts to contain the new coronavirus.
Brazil's Justice Minister Sergio Moro has resigned amid tension with President Jair Bolsonaro.
Moro, a former judge, quit after the president fired one of his allies - Federal Police chief Mauricio Valeixo - and accusing the President of political interference.
Immediately after the announcement, pot-banging protests against Jair Bolsonaro broke out across Brazil.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fired his health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, on Thursday after a series of disagreements over government efforts to contain the new coronavirus.
Previously, Bolsonaro had publicly criticized Mandetta for urging people to observe social distancing and stay indoors. The President disagreed with these measures, downplaying the virus as "a little flu", and touted the yet-unproven efficacy of an anti-malarial drug.
After a tweet -- now retracted -- by Brazil’s Education Minister Abraham Weintraub that appeared to mock Chinese accents while insinuating the Asian giant stood to benefit from the coronavirus pandemic, China's embassy in Brasilia demanded a public correction by the Brazilian Government.
This dispute comes just weeks after President Jair Bolsonaro sought to pacify a similar dispute sparked by his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro.
China is the biggest destination for Brazilian exports, accounting for 29% of its global total during the first quarter of 2020.
During a live TV pronouncement, President Jair Bolsonaro has called the virus "little flu" and stated the pandemic is a "fantasy." The Brazilian President ordered State Governors to end the quarantine currently in place on São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro -- Brazil's two most populous states.
There were protests across the country, with quarantined people banging pots and pans from their balconies.