Brazil on Friday became the country with the second-highest coronavirus death toll in the world with 41,828 fatalities, surpassing Britain, according to health ministry data.

The country recorded 909 deaths in the past 24 hours. There are 828,810 confirmed infections among a population of 212 million, the ministry said.

Experts say the true number of cases could be 10 or 15 times higher in Brazil, the largest country in Latin America.

The United States has by far the highest death toll and caseload in the world.

Three and a half months after Brazil’s first virus case was detected, the outbreak is far from controlled, although some major cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have moved to reopen their economies.

Sao Paulo state, with 46 million people, is by far the hardest-hit, with 10,368 deaths — about a quarter of the country’s total — and 167,900 infections.

Rio de Janeiro has seen 7,417 deaths and nearly 78,000 cases.

As of Friday, Britain had recorded 41,481 deaths from Covid-19.

Source: AFP