Instituto Butantan, a biomedical research centre in Brazil, asked on Friday morning the health industry regulator there for permission for emergency use of CoronaVac, a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd of China and produced by the research centre, Reuters reports.

The news agency says Instituto Butantan made the request a day after it announced the results of late-stage trials of CoronaVac in Brazil.

The report says the research centre has already begun making doses of CoronaVac with ingredients imported from China.

The Brazilian government has agreed to buy 100 million doses for a national vaccination programme which begins this month, and will buy all the CoronaVac Instituto Butantan makes this year, Reuters quotes Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello as saying on Thursday.

The health industry regulator, Anvisa, issued a written statement on Friday saying it will decide on the Instituto Butantan request within 10 days.