Brazil's Amazonas state runs out of oxygen supply amid soaring virus cases

Brazil's Amazonas has announced a curfew to slow the spread of the coronavirus with authorities warning dire situation across the vast state.

Watch:

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Amazonas on Thursday announced a 10-day curfew to combat the virus.

Amazonas governor Wilson Lima said the state was "in the most critical moment of the pandemic" where the health system has been pushed to a breaking point in capital Manaus..

In Manaus, demonstrators formed a human chain to block a road outside a hospital with soaring cases hospitals have run out of beds and oxygen supplies.

Manaus recorded 198 deaths on Wednesday setting a new record for the fourth day even as military personnel delivered 400 oxygen cylinders to Amazonas over the last five days with some patients transferred to other states.

The curfew in the state will begin on Friday from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am.

Brazil has recorded more than 205,000 deaths due to COVID-19 which is the second-highest after the United States. The country has recorded8.3 million infection cases so far.

Another Latin American country Mexico has been hit by its deadliest week of pandemic yet with nearly 1,000 daily deaths recorded officially and the health system reaching a breaking point.

Mexico has recorded 128 million cases and 6,930 deaths in seven days till Wednesday. Mexico has now recorded a total of 1.57 million COVID-19 infections and around 137,000 deaths which is the world's fourth-highest toll.

The country had begun mass immunisation on December 24 but it is constrained by limited supply. On Wednesday, 234,888 health workers received the first of two doses.