Covid-19: Brazil surge reaches new level as daily deaths pass 2,000

Brazil has exceeded 2,000 Covid-related deaths in a single day for the first time, as infection rates soar.

The country has the second highest death toll in the world, behind the US. Experts warn the transmission rate is made worse by more contagious variants.

On Wednesday, former leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hit out at President Jair Bolsonaro's "stupid" decisions.

Mr Bolsonaro has downplayed the threat from the virus. Earlier this week he told people to "stop whining".

The surge in cases has put health systems in most of Brazil's largest cities under immense pressure, with many close to collapse, Brazil's leading public health centre Fiocruz warns.

Margareth Dalcolmo, a doctor and researcher at Fiocruz said the country was "at the worst moment of the pandemic".

"2021 is still going to be a very hard year," she told AFP news agency.

Wednesday saw Brazil record 2,286 deaths, bringing its total to 268,370.

It means Brazil has a rate of 128 deaths per 100,000 population - 11th highest amongst 20 of the worst affected countries in the world. The highest rates are in the Czech Republic with 208 deaths per 100,000 people and the UK with 188 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Thursday is the anniversary of a pandemic being declared by the World Health Organization. Worldwide more than 118 million cases of the virus have been recorded, and more than 2.6 million deaths.