Brasilia, (Asian independent) Brazil has registered more than 1,600 Covid-19 deaths for a third consecutive day, following a record single-day count of 1,910 fatalities, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry said that the new fatalities has increased the country’s overall death toll to 260,970, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the previous 24 hours, the Ministry also registered 75,102 new cases, the second highest since the start of the pandemic.
The previous highest single-day cases was 87,743 recorded on January 7.
Brazil has thus reported a total of 10,793,732 cases so far.
Currently, Brazil has an average of 124 deaths and 5,136 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Brazil accounts for the world’s second highest Covid-19 death toll, after the US, and the third largest caseload, after the US and India.
Also on Thursday, 14 of Brazil’s 27 state Governors signed a letter to President Jair Bolsonaro, requesting greater efforts from the federal government to acquire vaccines.
The governors warned they were “on the brink” of a disaster, saying mass vaccination “is the most recommended alternative and, probably, the only alternative capable of stopping the pandemic”.
Brazil is applying for the CoronaVac vaccine manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, and the vaccine developed by the UK’s AstraZeneca and Oxford University.