Brazil now fourth highest in COVID-19 deaths

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Brazil has risen by almost 1,000 in a day, making the country's overall death toll the world's fourth-highest.

BBC News reports its figure of 28,834 has now surpassed France, and only the US, the UK, and Italy have recorded more deaths.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently played down the outbreak, although the country has the world's second-highest number of cases.

He has criticised state lockdowns for harming Brazil's economy and jobs.

What are the latest figures?

BBC News reports Brazil's health ministry said the past 24 hours had seen 956 new deaths.

This puts it past France's total of 28,774.

According to reports by BBC News, even if new figures raised the French total back above Brazil, the trends in the two countries show deaths in the Latin American nation are on a far steeper upward trend.

According to a count by Johns Hopkins University, Brazil now has 498,440 confirmed cases.

Only the US has more, with 1.77 million.

The number of deaths in Brazil has been doubling roughly every two weeks, compared to about every two months in the UK, four months in France, and five months in Italy.

Experts have warned that the real figure may be far higher due to a lack of testing.

[Source:BBC]