
Brazil's death toll due to novel coronavirus jumped to27,878, surpassing the toll of hard-hit Spain and making it the country with the fifth-highest number of fatalities.
According to the country's health ministry, the epicentre of the South American coronavirus outbreak,Brazilsaw 1,124 deaths in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said.
It also had a record number of new cases -- 26,928 in one day -- bringing the total number of infections to 465,166.
The United States, Britain, Italy and France lead the world in coronavirus deaths.
As of Friday Spain had recorded 27,121 deaths, with virus fatalities there rapidly slowing.Brazilcould soon surpass France, which has seen 28,714 deaths.
Brazilis second in the number of confirmed cases, though trailing far behind the United States which has 1.7 million infections.
Brazilhas seen 131.2 coronavirus deaths per one million people -- compared to more than 300 in the United States and 580 in Spain -- but the pandemic has yet to peak in the South American country.
"There is no way to foresee" when the outbreak will peak, the Ministry of Health said, and experts say the number of cases inBrazilcould be 15 times higher than the confirmed figure because there has been no widespread testing.