BRAZIL, (CNN NEWSOURCE) – According to reports, Brazil remains the worst-hit country in Latin America, but because brazil has so many cases, scientists believe it’s an ideal place to test a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
Brazil will be the first country outside of the UK to test the vaccine against COVID-19 which is being developed by Oxford University and Astrazeneca Pharmaceutical.
Starting this month, 2,000 Brazilians will participate in a trial, 1,000 in Sao Paulo, and 1,000 in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is now the country with the second highest number of coronavirus cases after the united states and officials warned it still hasn’t peaked.
On Wednesday, Brazil reported the most virus-related deaths since the coronavirus crisis began. Vaccine developers say they need to perform trials in places where the infection curve is still rising in Brazil.
Nonetheless, many of Brazil’s cities have already started to reopen. They’re starting to relax some of the social isolation restrictions.
President Jair Bolsonaro has been one of the biggest critics of quarantine, arguing that hunger and unemployment could end up killing more people than the virus itself.
On Wednesday he officially confirmed an army general as his interim health minister. This comes almost three weeks after his second house health minister resigned and the move suggests that Bolsonaro is in no hurry to name a permanent replacement.
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