Brazilian President allegedly asked Supreme Court to take back COVID restrictions

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has reportedly requested the country's Supreme Court to reverse coronavirus restrictions imposed by several federal states, despite infection numbers reaching new heights.

Local media reported on Friday that Bolsonaro had accused mayors and governors of acting like dictators and starving Brazilians by forcing them to stay at home.

"They are setting up a state of siege that is unconstitutional. They cannot do so without the approval of Congress. They humiliate the population while saying they are saving lives. How can they save lives, then they starve people, 'Bolsonaro said.

Brazil's COVID-19 mortality rate has risen distinctly in recent weeks to more than 290,000, second only to that of the United States.

On Friday, the health ministry stated the nation had recorded 90,570 cases of coronavirus and 2,815 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, the second deadliest daily toll since the pandemic began a year ago.

The South American country, which ended the deadliest week so far in a surge of the virus carried by a more contagious local variant, registered a total of 11,871,390 cases, while the death toll according to data from the Ministry of Health rose to 290,314.

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro said on Friday he was closing the famous beaches of the Brazilian city for the weekend and banning bus connections in an attempt to accommodate a surge of COVID-19.

Eduardo Paes announced the location in the iconic beach town was "very critical" and urged residents to stay home to slow down the spread of the virus.

He predicted that more definitive measures could be declared on Monday after meeting with the expert committee advising him on the pandemic.

The city with 6.7 million people has already ordered businesses to close at 5:00 (midnight GMT) from 5 March.

Rio currently has a 95 percent possession rate in intensive care units at public hospitals.

Like much of the country, it is struggling to deal with a new wave of COVID-19 cases that experts say is driven in part by the emergence of a new, more contagious type of virus known as 'P1', or the Brazilian variant.

Rio also closed its strands a year ago during the initial wave of COVID-19, with inadequate results. Popular beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema were often packed on sunny days, with few police in the area to enforce the closure.

The city opened its beaches in November, just before the summer in the southern hemisphere.