Brazil overtakes Russia in number of coronavirus cases

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Brazil reached 330,890, according to the data the country’s Health Ministry released late on Friday.

As a result, Brazil overtook Russia, where the number of infections reached 326,448, TASS reports.

Over the past day, another record growth of positive test results for COVID-19 was registered (20,803). The number of deaths from a disease caused by a new type of coronavirus increased by 1,001 to 21,048.

The state of Sao Paulo remains the epicenter of the spread of infection in the country. There are over 76,800 infected and more than 5,700 dead. Seara ranks second among the states of the country in terms of the number of infected - 34,573. It is followed by Rio de Janeiro, where the number of cases is 33,589. In these states, the number of people, who died of the disease caused by the virus is 2,251 and 3,657 respectively.

A difficult epidemic situation is developing in the northeastern states of Pernambuco (over 25,700 infected and 2,057 dead) and Maranhao (over 17,000 infected and 693 dead), as well as in the states of Amazonas (over 27,000 infected and 1,669 dead) and Para (almost 21,500 infected and 1,937 dead) in the north of the country. According to the Health Ministry, at least one case of coronavirus is registered in almost 2/3 of the country's municipalities.

Brazil, where the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on February 26, the day after the end of the carnival, ranks first among Latin American countries in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and related deaths. On May 12, the Health Ministry announced that 39 positive samples had been taken from patients with symptoms typical of a coronavirus-induced disease back in January. Later, the authorities of Seara found out that the first patient with symptoms of coronavirus infection in the state sought medical help on January 1.