Brazil registers 5th consecutive day of over 1,000 deaths from COVID-19

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil registered 1,043 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 238,532, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

It has been the fifth consecutive day that more than 1,000 daily deaths from the disease have been reported.

The ministry also reported 44,299 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the national tally to 9,809,754.

Brazil has the second highest number of deaths, after the United States, and the third highest number of cases, behind the United States and India.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in the country, is the hardest hit by the pandemic, with 56,191 deaths and 1,911,411 cases, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 554,040 cases and 31,383 deaths.

So far, more than 5 million people, or 2.38 percent of the Brazilian population, have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 189,100 people have got the second shot.