South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 16. /TASS/: Brazil’s pharmaceutical company Uniao Quimica and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) submitted an application on Friday to the Brazilian national sanitary watchdog Anvisa for permit to urgently use the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, the company said in a statement.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Hospital staff and relatives of COVID-19 patients rushed to provide facilities with oxygen tanks just flown into the Amazon rainforest’s biggest city as doctors chose which patients would breathe amid dwindling stocks and an effort to airlift some of them to other states.

LA PAZ, Jan 14 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Bolivia Wednesday signed a contract with India’s Serum Institute to purchase five million doses of AstraZeneka vaccine to combat Covid-19, according to President Luis Arce.

The President stated that with the previous purchase of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and now with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the entire population of the country will be able to be immunised.

BOGOTA, January 11. /TASS/: The latest developments in the United States show that American society is sorely divided, with the country on the brink of a civil war, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said during a speech in Caracas Sunday.

"The United States is in a crisis. Joe Biden’s term as president will start under the worst scenario which includes hostile polarization, a split, animosity and confrontation. Virtually on the verge of a civil war," he noted.

BOGOTA, January 11. /TASS/: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stressed that his US counterpart Donald Trump sought to destroy Venezuela and kill Maduro himself during his presidency.

"Donald Trump’s main goal during [his] four years in power was Venezuela, to destroy us and me. He advocated assassinating me a couple of times," Maduro said during a speech in Caracas.

The leader believes that Trump symbolizes "sheer hatred, violence and aggression in global politics."

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 9. /TASS/: The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) requested additional information on Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. This is according to a statement on agency's website, which was published on Friday.

Earlier, the Uniao Quimica pharmaceutical company, which is a partner of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), applied for permission to conduct the third phase of clinical trials of the vaccine in the country.

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 9. /TASS/: Brazil’s national sanitary watchdog Anvisa reported a "serious side incident" during the national phase of clinical trials of the Janssen-Cilag vaccine.

According to a report the agency published on its website on Friday, the incident took place on January 2, but its details were not disclosed.

08 Jan 2021; MEMO: An Iranian ship arrived at the Venezuelan port of La Guaira on Thursday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, in what appeared to be a continuation of the commercial alliance between the two countries targeted by US sanctions, Reuters reports.

SAO PAULO (AP) — The night before New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of revelers clad in their bathing suits crowded onto the iconic Ipanema beach to have some seaside drinks. It was one of many open-air parties occurring along Brazil’s vast coastline since the summer heat set in, and as the COVID-19 death toll climbed higher.

LIMA, Jan 7 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The Lima Group, a regional bloc comprised mostly of Latin American nations, said that it does not “recognize the legitimacy or legality of the National Assembly installed on January 5” in Venezuela.

“This illegitimate National Assembly is the product of the fraudulent elections of December 6, 2020, organized by the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro,” the Lima Group said in a statement.