Brazil surpassed 70,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday, the Health Ministry announced, but the number of daily deaths appears to be stabilizing.
The ministry said there had been 45,000 new infections and 1,200 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 1. 8 million and 70,400 deaths.
Brazil, a country of 212 million people, is the second most affected country globally after the United States.
The number of deaths has doubled in the last 35 days, with the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro being the most affected, reporting 17,400 and 11,200 deaths, respectively.
In relative terms, however, Brazil registered 335 deaths per million inhabitants, than the United States with 403 or Spain with 607.
However, in some states, such as Rio de Janeiro (653), Ceará (742) and Amazonas (726), the figures are above the national average.
In four of the past few weeks, Brazil has averaged more than 1,000 deaths per day.
Critics say far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has failed to deliver a unified message on how to fight the virus, with state governors on par with the response.
Bolsonaro has even gone so far as to ignore lockdown measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing, and has criticized governors for lockdowns that have hurt the economy.
The 65-year-old revealed on Tuesday that he had the virus, but the previous Friday he said he felt “fine. “
He had taken hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, and it “worked. “
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