At least 41 killed after bus and truck collide in Brazil

Rescuers are working to help the wounded caught in the wreckage of the vehicles after crash in Sao Paulo state.

 

Local media reports said the bus was carrying 53 employees of a textile company [Juliano Oliveira/AP Photo]

At least 41 people were killed after a crash between a bus and a truck in southeastern Brazil, state police and the fire service have said.

Images broadcast on local TV on Wednesday showed an eviscerated bus near the city of Taguai in Sao Paulo state, roughly 350km (217 miles) west of the state capital Sao Paulo city.

The death toll was expected to rise further, state police said in a statement.

“We know there are more victims in the wreckage of the vehicles, but we don’t know how many,” it said.

Police said 37 people were killed at the scene. Four more died of their injuries in hospital.

Acidente entre ônibus e caminhão deixa mortos no interior de SP. Há ao menos 12 pessoas gravemente feridas https://t.co/EVaTmNa8v9 #G1 pic.twitter.com/7JFlUuoR37

— G1 (@g1) November 25, 2020

Translation: A crash between a bus and truck in Taguai had the highest number of victims on Sao Paulo roads this year, according to the military police. Death toll rose to 41. 

 

An investigation will take place to ascertain what happened, state police said.

Local media said the bus was carrying 53 employees of a textile company. Rescuers were working to help the wounded and passengers caught in the wreckage of the vehicles, images aired on local television showed.

 

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Brazil’s president, Bolsonaro, threatens to cut ties with WHO

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. PHOTO: EVARISTO SA/AFP/Getty Images

President Jair Bolsonaro threatened Friday to withdraw Brazil from the World Health Organization, following in the footsteps of his US counterpart, Donald Trump, accusing it of “ideological bias.” 

“I’m telling you right now, the United States left the WHO, and we’re studying that, in the future. Either the WHO works without ideological bias, or we leave, too,” the far-right leader told journalists outside the presidential palace.

Sometimes called a “Tropical Trump,” Bolsonaro has followed a similar script to the US president in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, downplaying its severity, criticizing state authorities’ stay-at-home measures and touting the purported effects of the drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19. 

Trump announced a week ago he was terminating the United States’ relationship with the WHO, accusing it of bias in favor of China, with whom his administration has clashed over the origin and handling of the pandemic. Bolsonaro said it was no coincidence that days later, the WHO reversed its decision to suspend clinical testing of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. The WHO had suspended trials of the drug after major studies raised concerns about its safety and effectiveness against the new coronavirus — irking Trump, a hydroxychloroquine fan who even took the drug himself as a preventive measure.

On Thursday, most of the authors of the studies that appeared in The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine retracted their work, saying they could no longer vouch for their data after the firm that supplied it refused to be audited. The WHO has resumed trials of the drug, which is traditionally used against auto-immune diseases and malaria. 

Bolsonaro, however, put the reversal down to the WHO losing its more than $400-million annual contribution from the United States, its biggest funder. 

“Trump cut their cash, and they back-tracked on everything,” he said. “Chloroquine is back.” He made the statements shortly before Brazil announced its death toll in the coronavirus pandemic had risen above 35,000 — though, in a change of format, the health ministry stopped reporting the total number of people killed, providing only the figure for the past 24 hours. Brazil has the third-highest death toll in the pandemic, after the US and Britain. 

The country of 212 million people has now confirmed more than 645,000 cases of the virus. Experts say under-testing means the real numbers are probably far higher.

[AFP]

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Mysterious new virus emerges in Brazil

A mysterious new virus of completely unknown origin has emerged from a lake in Brazil leaving scientists ‘puzzled’.

It has been named Yaravirus after Yara, a supernatural mermaid who lured soldiers underwater to live with her.

Researchers found over 90 per cent of Yaravirus genes have never been seen before, making it ‘mysterious’ and wholly unique.

The discovery comes amid the outbreak of a killer novel virus across the world which started in China.

COVID-19 coronavirus was first discovered in December 2019, and since, has killed more than 1,000 people and infected over 44,500.

Yaravirus was documented by scientists in January after they unexpectedly came across it at Lake Pampulha, an artificial lake in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.

They sequenced the virus genome to look at its DNA, finding 74 genes in total. Only six of those had been recorded in literature before.

The other 68 have never been seen before, known as orphan genes.

A search of over 8,500 genetic material from across the globe in a scientific database offered no clues as to what Yaravirus might be closely related to.

The team, led by Brazil’s Federal University of Minas Gerais, said: ‘Yaravirus expands our knowledge of the diversity of DNA viruses.’

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