Brazil has recorded its first confirmed case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa, a fresh danger sign for a country already ravaged by the world’s worst daily death toll.
Foreign Minister Araujo resigns amid controversy over the government's problems securing more Covid-19 vaccines; while Defence Minister Fernando Silva exited unexpectedly, putting more pressure on President Bolsonaro to address pandemic seriously.
Even as global cases climb to 100 million, Tanzania holds firm to the idea that the pandemic is nothing but an overblown scare.
The global novel coronavirus has infected over 81 million people globally and has claimed nearly 1.8 million lives. Here're the updates for December 29:
President Jair Bolsonaro has persistently defied expert advice on containing the pandemic and recently declared he did not plan to be vaccinated.
While Covid-19 misinformation is as rampant as the virus, some countries have their own distinct disinformation ecosystems.
President Jair Bolsonaro hits out at "unjustified" attacks over deforestation in the world's biggest rainforest during G20 summit, claiming critics were from "less competitive" countries.
Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in hard-hit Brazil, is one of six states helping to test the so-called CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.
The first six months of 2020 were the worst on record for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with an area bigger than the nation of Luxembourg cleared.
Bolsonaro has infamously likened the virus to a "little flu", amid attacks on stay-at-home measures and other public health guidelines.
With less than one-third of Brazilians approving Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, and protests against him increasing, analysts say he's shoring up his base to shield himself from possible impeachment and improve governability.
Move comes after months of criticism from experts saying Brazil’s statistics are woefully deficient, and in some cases manipulated, so it may never be possible to gain a real understanding of the depth of the pandemic in the country.
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