Brazil s Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, gives a press conference on the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil on March 24, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
BRASILIA Brazil s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga announced on Wednesday the official launch of a testing program to identify positive COVID-19 cases and their contacts, in order to adopt a better quarantine policy and reduce the transmission of the virus.
The announcement came following the third meeting of the national coordination committee to confront the COVID-19 pandemic at the presidential headquarters of Planalto Palace.
According to the minister, the program will use antigen tests, which provide a faster result than the COVID-19 RT-PCR tests, to detect the virus.
UK to send India life-saving mobile oxygen factories that supply scores at time
From CNN’s Amy Cassidy and Sarah Dean
Britain s Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks during a virtual press conference inside the new Downing Street Briefing Room in London on April 28. Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
The UK will send three mobile oxygen factories that produce enough oxygen per minute to support 50 people at a time, as it battles a devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the British government announced on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said the three oxygen generation units – each the size of a shipping container would be sent from surplus stock from Northern Ireland and would produce 500 liters of oxygen per minute each, which is enough for 50 people to use at a time.
Brazil Senate opens probe into govt handling of Covid, pressure builds on Bolsonaro ahead of 2022 polls Reuters
A Senate inquiry into the Brazilian government s handling of the coronavirus pandemic kicked off on Tuesday, with lawmakers launching what may be a major headache for President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of next year s election.
Nearly 400,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Brazil, the second-highest death toll in the world after the United States. Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, has drawn harsh criticism due to his long-running efforts to minimize the dangers of the virus, shun masks and push unproven remedies.
The inquiry will be overseen by Senator Renan Calheiros, a veteran lawmaker and Bolsonaro critic responsible for the final report. Procedural decisions will fall to Senator Omar Aziz, from the hard-hit state of Amazonas, as committee president and Senate opposition leader Randolfe Rodrigues as vice president.
Brazil to receive 1 million Pfizer vaccine doses on Thursday, health minister says Reuters 6 hrs ago
BRASILIA, April 28 (Reuters) - Brazil s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said the country would receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, as supplies of immunizations dwindle and risk further delaying an already slow rollout.
Over the weekend, the health ministry announced that 30% fewer vaccines had been received between January and April than expected. Queiroga said the Covax facility, an international cooperation to assist countries secure vaccines, had moved up the expected delivery of 2 million doses to May. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Jake Spring; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer)
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