Brazil Crosses Half Million Covid Deaths: Health Minister

Brazil, which experienced a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, now appears to be grappling with a third wave in its outbreak.

Brazil on Saturday crossed the grim threshold of 500,000 coronavirus deaths, the country's health minister said, trailing only the United States in lives lost to COVID-19. "500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world," Marcelo Queiroga tweeted, without giving the death count from the past 24 hours. As of Friday, the Health Ministry had recorded 498,499 deaths, with a daily average of more than 2,000 in the last seven days. According to a consortium of the country's main media groups, the overall death count rose to 500,022 Saturday afternoon. The government releases its toll after 2100 GMT.