BRASILIA | Brazil crossed the threshold of five million people infected with the new coronavirus on Tuesday and is approaching the milestone of 150,000 dead, while the country records a decline in the pandemic.
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With 31,553 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health, Brazil now has 5,000,694 cases, the third highest count in the world behind the United States (7.5 million) and India (6 , 7 million).
The country of 212 million people has deplored 734 new deaths in 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the epidemic to 148,228 deaths, compared with 104,555 in India and 211,108 in the United States.
The daily average of deaths over the last week is 610 deaths per day, a level which confirms a leveling off of the pandemic after an endless plateau of 1,000 daily deaths recorded between June and early August.
The daily average of new cases over a week also sags, to 27,477 against more than 40,000 in early September.
Experts agree, however, that the situation in Brazil is still “worrying”.
“The decline in the number of cases and deaths is very small and is not yet sustained. There is therefore a first trend of decline, but it remains to be confirmed, ”Mauro Sanchez, epidemiologist at the University of Brasilia, told AFP.