RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil reported 1,127 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours and 43,812 new cases of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, ending the most lethal week since the pandemic began a year ago.
The South American country is fighting a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by a new, more contagious local variant of the virus that has overwhelmed intensive care wards in most large cities.
The week saw 12,818 deaths in Brazil from COVID-19, an average of 1,831 fatalities a day. That was far above the 1,000-death daily rolling averages for January and February and points to the gravity of the resurgence.
Brazil has now registered 11,483,370 cases in all, while the official death toll has risen to 278,229, according to ministry data, in the world’s deadliest and most widespread outbreak outside the United States.