RIO DE JANEIRO, Jumada II 02, 1437, March 11, 2016, SPA -- Brazil's health minister said Thursday that the country's top biomedical research institute is getting $2.8 million to fund studies aimed at combatting the Zika virus, according to AP. Health Minister Marcelo Castro said over a $1 million would help finance a study to find a vaccine for the virus, which Brazilian researchers have tentatively linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that affects infants' skulls and brains. The remaining funding will go toward a study on Zika and microcephaly to be jointly conducted by the Brazilian research institute Fiocruz and the United States' National Institutes of Health. Castro made the announcement during a visit to Fiocruz's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. President Dilma Rousseff was also at Fiocruz for meetings with officials there but left without speaking to the media. --SPA 03:26 LOCAL TIME 00:26 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w