Brazil's coronavirus death toll crosses 5,000

Brazil's death toll due to coronavirus crossed 5,000 on Wednesday, the country's health ministry said.

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There are now 5,107 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the country with 71,886 infected cases.

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The country recorded 474 deaths in the last 24 hour hours with Sao Paulo being the hardest hit due to the virus even as the country prepares to resume economic activity after May 11.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been quite candid over his displeasure with the restrictions imposed by governors across the country even as the death toll mounts. Last week the Brazilian president had said that he wanted the quarantines imposed by state governors to be lifted.

"I hope that this is the last week of the quarantine, that way of fighting the virus with everyone in their home," Bolsonaro had said last week. The President had sacked his health minister earlier as health officials predicted that the virus will reach its peak in May and June.

Brazil, a country of over 210 million has the most number of COVID-19 cases in South America

US President Trump had said on Tuesday that his administration was considering ordering coronavirus tests for people arriving in the United States on international flights while singling out Brazil.

"We're probably going to be doing that. Brazil has pretty much had an outbreak, as you know," the US president said, adding,"we're talking with others also that have a lot of business coming in from South America, Latin America, and we'll make a determination."

Last week the country had seen the death toll cross 3,000 amid reports of shortage of equipment in ICU units.