Brazil registers record daily spike in COVID-19 cases

By Muhammed Emin Canik

BUENOS AIRES (AA) - Brazil’s Health Ministry on Thursday reported over 100,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since the outbreak in the country, the country’s Health Ministry said.

In the last 24 hours, 2,777 people died due to COVID-19 and 100,158 new cases have been registered.

The total number of cases in the country surpassed 12.32 million, including 303,462 deaths and more than 10.77 recoveries.

Brazil, a South American country with a population of more than 210 million, is the country most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, followed by the US.

Brazil has been going through difficult days in recent weeks due to both occupancy in intensive care units and the spread of P1, the more contagious type of COVID-19, which is thought to have originated in the country's Amazonas state.

In 18 of the country's 26 states and federal regions, intensive care units were declared to have at least 90% occupancy, and some hospitals in the country had a shortage of medical equipment.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 2.74 million lives in 191 countries and regions.

Over 124.95 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries now over 70.88 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Merve Berker